Review: Struck By Lightning by Chris Colfer

Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer
Released: November 20, 2012
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Pages: 272
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Carey
Synopsis: Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal follows the story of outcast high school senior Carson Phillips, who blackmails the most popular students in his school into contributing to his literary journal to bolster his college application; his goal in life is to get into Northwestern and eventually become the editor of The New Yorker. At once laugh-out-loud funny, deliciously dark, and remarkably smart, Struck By Lightning unearths the dirt that lies just below the surface of high school. At a time when bullying torments so many young people today, this unique and important novel sheds light with humor and wit on an issue that deeply resonates with countless teens and readers. 

Review:

Let me confess this: I love Glee. Well, I loved the first two seasons of it. After Rachel, Finn, Kurt, and everyone graduated, it went down hill. I also love Chris Colfer. I'm actually related to him. So I'm excited that I finally got to read this book of his. And of course I'm reading it before the movie, which looks fabulous itself.

The book is a journal from the main character's, Carson, point of view. He starts off saying that he can't wait for college (Northwestern) and can't wait to be a freelance journalist. Since I was in yearbook in high school and I love writing, I automatically, only one page in, was in love.

I feel Carson's pain. I hate my small town that I live in. I want to get out and live life in a big city. I'm extremely ambitious. I've known what I've wanted to do since I was eight, and people always give me that look like, "oh-kaaaay. Good luck with that." I am Carson. (Does that mean I'm Chris Colfer?)

So Carson's really bad school counselor called Northwestern to see how his application was doing, right? They said that he has to something else, that school newspapers and writing clubs aren't good enough. So he tries to start a literary magazine. Except nobody wants to join. So guess what he does?

He blackmails people. Seven people to be exact. The yearbook editor that sends racy photos online, the cheerleader and football coach that are sleeping together, the satanic goth girl whose parents are bible freaks, the druggie, and the two closet gays that he caught making out in the bathroom. And let me tell you: it works. And he also gets more people to join, since he got the queen bee to join.

The thing about Struck By Lightning is that it's told in a journal style. I'm pretty sure it's because this was based off of the screenplay version that Colfer also wrote. And that would make sense. But either way, it's original this way. How often do you read a relatively new YA novel written in journal entries? Answer: Not often.

So over time, people actually do turn in submissions. Carson even gets to know Malerie, Vicki, and Justin a little bit. And it's nice to know that in the midsts of his blackmailing that he's somewhat making friends for the first time in high school. It's obvious that that's how it'll turn out, that he made some friends.

Carson was accepted into Northwestern, but later denied because his mother threw away his letter. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Her excuse was the she didn't want him to get hurt. That dreams never come true. EXCUSE ME? You never throw away someone's future like that, literally. I got so angry at the book that I almost threw it across the room. But that would've been rude to the book and Chris Colfer, so I didn't.

The ending is the biggest plot twist ending of a book I have ever read and I could go on forever about how much it pissed me off. The rating is docked an entire star because of it, oh my god. Chris Colfer, what were you thinking?

I just hope that the movie's good. Speaking of the movie, here's the trailer:

Chris Colfer? He has the funniest, best quotes in this book ever. Like I could sit here and pick out ten in five pages I would quote often. It's great. My favorite quote from the entire book: "'It's one of the most amazing experiences, finding something to write about, or realizing something for the first time. It comes out if no where and just hits you. Then it's all you can think about and it goes through your body and tries to escape and be expressed in any way possible. It's a lot like... Like...' 'Lightning?' Malerie asked me. 'Yeah,' I said. 'Like lightning.'"

Because of Colfer's originality, semi-realisticness (I'm pretty sure that's not even a word, but I don't care), and how questionable this novel is, the original rating is 4.5. Blame the ending for why it became a 3.5.

Review: The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti

The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti

Released: April 7, 2009

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 322

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Carey

Maybe it was wrong, or maybe impossible, but I wanted the truth to be one thing. One solid thing.

Quinn is surrounded by women who have had their hearts broken. Between her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother, Quinn hears nothing but cautionary tales.... Read the rest of the synopsis on Goodreads.

***

NOTE: This review will have spoilers. I apolgize if you haven't read the book. Also, the review will be quite long and goes in order of the book, as I wrote it while I was reading it.

It took me way too long to read the seven page first chapter, because it was honestly way too descriptive. It was honestly ridiculous with how descriptive it was. Especially for the first page. 

 BUT it did throw something interesting in the end of the first chapter: that Quinn, the main character, steals from her father's house, even though she knows it's not a good thing.

Speaking of good things, Quinn knows good things. She knows that she should like math, that she should invite the outcast to her birthday parties to be nice, that you should drive carefully and always like your family. It meant taking careful steps. She also knows that "good choices" are pretty much just other people's choices. Which makes it interesting that she steals things from her father. If she's so good and careful about everything, why do that?

Once again, it seems as though Caletti is way too descriptive and likes run on sentences. I don't need to know each and every toy Quinn's little sister, Sprout, stuffs in her hat for the train ride, and a description of what she does on said ride. It made me dislike her writing style only eight pages into the book. It was just so descriptive that I felt like I had to focus way more than I should have had to.

There was lots of not relative information. Like, way too much of it. Like the bold and italic paragraphs talking about past loves, from the point of view of Frances and Dorothy. I was so confused when these came up. I just found it so unnecessary.

It wasn't until around page 25 that I actually got a smile and semi-enjoyed this book for the first time. It was because of the quote, "...so I stayed downstairs because there was more privacy there. I wouldn't have wanted anyone to hear all the passion and desire and sexual longing in our conversation. How was you day? Fine, great. How was yours? Oh, pretty good.'" I'm just a sucker for any kind of sexual joke, even if it sucks (no pun intended), and extreme sarcasm.

My favorite character in this book was definitely Sprout/Charles/Charlotte. She was only ten or so, maybe older or younger by a year or whatever, I honestly don't remember, but she was so spunky and sarcastic and I loved her. She was mature for her age, yet not at all. She was the bratty little sister. She was just great.

Reading the bold/italics made me confused. Like what does this have to do with anything? Pretty much every female character (so majority of the characters) would eventually all have these sort of diary entry things. So many that I time to time forgot what went with who. Eventually  it finally dawned on me that the bold and italics is every woman that Barry, the father, stole from. Talking all about their love life before Barry came into play. But then why ate Quinn's aunt and grandmother and half-sister in there?

And all of the sudden, Nice Guy Daniel cheats in Good Girl Quinn, ruining her thoughts on how a guy could be different. Quinn, even though she said multiple times that she didn't like or love Daniel, is decently upset over their break up. I guess it's because she thought she was going to prove her family right, that there are good guys out there, blah, blah, blah.

 At one point, Calletti wrote: "That wasn't helping. 'This isn't helping.' I said." Like no. Stop. Don't be so repetitive like that.

So all of the sudden Quinn and sprout and Frances Lee (I hate how they would always call her by her full name. It just got really annoying really quick.) are going on this quest to bring back everything their father has stolen from the women he's been with to each woman. So they're going to like seven different places, right The first stop is Frances Lee's house, to give Joelle a painting back. (Frances is Barry's daughter from first marriage with Joelle.) And they have to give this guy, Jake Kennedy, a ride to Portland, since they have to go there anyways. And the first time Quinn meets Jake is in the middle of the night in the bathroom, where she is half naked, and he is, well, fully naked. Can you say awkward? And then the next morning they're all eating breakfast when Jake walks in and says, "This is what I look like with clothes on." And I literally cackled it was so funny. So finally, on page 179 out of 320, this book got good and I decided that I somewhat liked it.

So of course they're done with the quest, they're about to leave the last woman's house (which also happens to be the woman that Barry cheated on Quinn's mother with and left her for) when France's car breaks down and the engine is shot. So they have to give up and call their mother, who thought they were in Disney Land the entire time, and get a ride. And then BAM her mother, the one who has been against men for ten years, has fallen in love. Which kind of ruined the entire plot, in my opinion. Like why have every woman fall in love when they've been so against it for so long?

So it ends with her dad getting married (????) and not really responding to how Quinn yelled at him and stole his things (also ????) and she starts senior year and her and Jake are still together and she's all, "Jake was seashell right." I don't even know what the heck that means. Is that a phrase that I've never heard before? Whatever.

Yeah. The ending sucked. Then again, the beginning sucked, too. So did the middle. There were really only certain parts of it that I liked. Pretty much whenever Quinn and Jake would have a moment, or they would return something to one of the women and we'd learn about their relationship. Otherwise, the book was horrible in my opinion. So, I give it  2.5 stars. Sorry not sorry.

PS: this was my first Caletti book, so I'm really disappointed. I thought it would be fabulous. But maybe I started off with the wrong one.

PPS: I really don't understand the title. I guess Barry is Prince Charming? But if so, the cover doesn't really work with it. I don't know. I just don't understand.

PPPS: I do, however, think that this would make a kick ass chick flick, since it's pretty much all against guys until the endish of the book, and there is a little romance in there. Blockbuster, make it happen.

Review: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Title: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Released:  September 5, 2011 by Poppy

Pages: 273

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Carey

Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it's a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part,Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her to go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend's attention.

Then Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: She and the other players' girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won't get any action from them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don't count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. But what Lissa never sees coming is her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling

***

(Note: I was on vacation and read/wrote this review over a four day period and it was quite awkward.) 

The thing about this book is that I started it being really unsure about it. I had read maybe three chapters of The DUFF, also by Keplinger, and just couldn't get into it. But I loved the synopsis and everything, so when I went to the library and saw it, of course I picked it up. Contrary to The DUFF, I immediately got into this book. I'm not sure what it is, but something about I made me so obsessed with it so quickly. But I'm glad it did.

It starts off with the main character, Lissa, and her boyfriend Randy in the car making out. Then their car gets egged, some stuff happens, and Lissa gets pissed. Apparently this isn't the first time this has happened in their year and a half long relationship. Lissa goes into detail about the rivalry between the school's soccer and football team, which is the reason why Lissa, a few chapters later, recommends the sex strike to the other girlfriends of the football and soccer players.

You get introduced to Lissa's life very quickly. Her mother and father were in a car accident, leaving her father handicapped and her mother dead. She has an older brother, Logan, who she pretty much plays Mom for, even though he's ten years older than her. And then you meet Cash Sterling. Cash is one of the soccer players who she has a bit of a past with. He's perfect: attractive, athletic, smart, a master flirter, and a good kisser. And of course he gets a job with Lissa, which starts some drama right there.

When Lissa tells Randy about the strike, she says that he's supposed to be acting more mature, not putting soccer players into the hospital because of a stupid rivalry. But then Randy fires back that she also hasn't kept some promise that she made. Which makes you wonder: what is the promise? So, naturally, I got even more invested in the book.

And holy plot twist, Kody Keplinger! There are literally three plot twists in maybe four pages about the said promise. It's insane with how everything just picked up all of the sudden with those plot twists. I hated the fact that I was busy the entire time I was reading this book and I that I had to put it down so often because I wanted to continue reading so badly! It got sooooo good soooo quickly. And it was already so good, too! 

As I got farther and farther into the book, everything in Lissa's life started to change. Randy and Lissa broke up, which obviously opened some windows for her, even if it was bad break up (which it was). The Strike got even worse, even though the football and soccer players started to get along. As you may have expected, Lissa brought her personal feelings into the strike. 

Let me just say this: Randy is an asshole.  I can't say that enough. Cash is the perfect guy, which is how Keplinger, I think, wanted to get him across as. And Lissa is a brave, brilliant girl with a touch of OCD that makes everyone love her. I actually might go as far to say that she's one of my favorite characters in a book ever. And I've read a lot of books. So, props to Keplinger. 

Throughout all of the character developments, plot twists, minor plot/relationships, and a fun major plot in general, Shut Out recieves five stars. And, by the way, this would definitely make a kick-ass movie!