Scan barcode
thecozyreader's reviews
640 reviews
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
5.0
I was given the chance to read and review the ARC of this lovely story by the author herself, Lisa Mantchev. I'd been stalking Lisa ever since the first time my eyes meet the cover of this endearing book.
Originality: 20!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 20!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 20!
Passion: 9!
Grade: 99/100!
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives at Center Stage of the Theatre Illuminata. Her best friends are fairies! She crushes on a pirate, Nate, and an air elemental named Ariel. She butts heads with the Stage Manager and constantly feeds the fire between the Property Manager and the Scenery Manager. And within it all she's an orphan with Cobalt blue hair. She controls the written word. If she writes it, it happens.
She is given the ultimate challenge. Sell out a show and receive a standing ovation or leave the Theatre forever. Is she able to get all the Managers and Players to work together to remake a play into something new? Will she survive an attack from a Sea Witch? And lastly, will she find out who her mother is?
This book was just too much fun to read! Beatrice's character seemed like an average teenage girl with a very supernatural setting that she lived in. The other characters of this book were from the works of Shakespeare's plays. I found that I knew just about all of the characters, so I didn't have any issues understanding what was going on. However, I wonder if other people reading this book find themselves confused because they don't know what play the character originates from. That would be the only negative thing I could find about this book.
The story was very original and complicated but it meshed well together. The setting and the plot were just outstanding. The creativity needed to write this book is unbelievable. Lisa did an amazing job putting it all together. And one of my favorite things about the written book is the typeface changes when Beatrice was writing the play lines. Amazingly well done.
I gave the Passion rating a 9/10, because I honestly felt the passion between Beatrice and both male leads, Ariel and Nate, more so with Nate. However, since Beatrice is only a teenager I feel the passion was definitely there and it was very tangible; therefore, my resulting rating of a 9/10.
Ultimately, this has got to be one of the funniest, creative books I have read in a very long time.
Originality: 20!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 20!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 20!
Passion: 9!
Grade: 99/100!
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives at Center Stage of the Theatre Illuminata. Her best friends are fairies! She crushes on a pirate, Nate, and an air elemental named Ariel. She butts heads with the Stage Manager and constantly feeds the fire between the Property Manager and the Scenery Manager. And within it all she's an orphan with Cobalt blue hair. She controls the written word. If she writes it, it happens.
She is given the ultimate challenge. Sell out a show and receive a standing ovation or leave the Theatre forever. Is she able to get all the Managers and Players to work together to remake a play into something new? Will she survive an attack from a Sea Witch? And lastly, will she find out who her mother is?
This book was just too much fun to read! Beatrice's character seemed like an average teenage girl with a very supernatural setting that she lived in. The other characters of this book were from the works of Shakespeare's plays. I found that I knew just about all of the characters, so I didn't have any issues understanding what was going on. However, I wonder if other people reading this book find themselves confused because they don't know what play the character originates from. That would be the only negative thing I could find about this book.
The story was very original and complicated but it meshed well together. The setting and the plot were just outstanding. The creativity needed to write this book is unbelievable. Lisa did an amazing job putting it all together. And one of my favorite things about the written book is the typeface changes when Beatrice was writing the play lines. Amazingly well done.
I gave the Passion rating a 9/10, because I honestly felt the passion between Beatrice and both male leads, Ariel and Nate, more so with Nate. However, since Beatrice is only a teenager I feel the passion was definitely there and it was very tangible; therefore, my resulting rating of a 9/10.
Ultimately, this has got to be one of the funniest, creative books I have read in a very long time.
Stargazer by Claudia Gray
5.0
This post will be the review only. I will post the contest this weekend as I am having a crazy week.
Stargazer (Evernight Academy, Book 2) by Claudia Gray
HarperTeen (March 24, 2009)
329 pages (Hardcover)
Originality: 19!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 19!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 19!
Passion: 10!
Grade: 97/100!
NEW! Cover Bonus Points: 2/5!
99/100!
Inside flap description:
The vampire in me was closer to the surface . . .
Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all--vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.
But Bianca fell in love with Lucas--a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.
Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross--or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.
Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning. . . .
Read an excerpt HERE!
Originality:
The plot was very original in this book. Ghosts, vampires, humans, teens, adults, extremely old vampire teens. It has it all. Everything worked well together in this recent installment by Claudia Gray.
Characters:
Bianca and Lucas's love holds strong even thought they are forced apart. We learn more about Bianca, her parents, and her roommate Raquel. We also learn a bit more about snob Courtney. And a major character this time around is one of my favorite characters: Balthazar. We also meet his sister in this book, who turns out to be a major character.
Writing:
Claudia did such a better job on the writing this time around! I remember reading Evernight feeling confused and a bit ahead of where the reader should have been or something like that. Not with this book. I felt right at home. Everything matched and met up at the correct times. There was no confusion about the storyline, the characters, or even where it was all leading to. It was very well done.
Setting:
Well, the setting is Evernight Academy. A giant stone building with towers and gargoyles. The setting is setup very well. A lot takes place within Evernight and the details needed to convey the setting were there, not aggressive but not lacking either. We got to travel a bit in this book and each new setting was welcome and presented just great.
Plot:
This book was chock full o' badassness! There was lots of action, lots of planning, lots of collaboration between characters. Overall, I had tons of fun reading this. Everything worked out in the end with little-to-no loose ends, well except for the ending, but that's to be expected!
Passion:
Wow. The passion is totally there. Between Lucas and Bianca and even Bianca and Balty. Lucas and Bianca have a very close scene that they both ended up confused by what the other wants and it ends terribly, terribly bad. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I felt totally sad for Bianca but I also understood where Lucas was coming from. And what makes it even worse is that Balthazar is such a nice guy, vampire, whatever, and he and Bianca would work great together. They share a moment that was so hot it was freezing....for a moment I thought I was reading one of my adult romances.
Cover:
The cover isn't that great. They stayed true with the artwork of the first book with a contrasted pic of a girl but I don't get it. I do love the font that Stargazer is set in though. And the purple is cool too.
Overall:
This was a great book. I totally loved it and I was soo sad with the end. Because I didn't want it to end. Here's the closing line:
"Yeah." I looked at Lucas as I took his hand in mine. "I'm with you."
So, needless to say, I WANT MORE!
The next book titled Hourglass will probably be a whole year away.
There are some cool wallpapers and avatars on Claudia's website!
Stay tuned for my contest of a BRAND NEW copy of Stargazer! I'll be posting it sometime later this week!
http://bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com/2009/03/stargazer-evernight-academy-book-2-by.html
Stargazer (Evernight Academy, Book 2) by Claudia Gray
HarperTeen (March 24, 2009)
329 pages (Hardcover)
Originality: 19!
Characters: 20!
Writing: 19!
Setting: 10!
Plot: 19!
Passion: 10!
Grade: 97/100!
NEW! Cover Bonus Points: 2/5!
99/100!
Inside flap description:
The vampire in me was closer to the surface . . .
Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all--vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.
But Bianca fell in love with Lucas--a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.
Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross--or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.
Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning. . . .
Read an excerpt HERE!
Originality:
The plot was very original in this book. Ghosts, vampires, humans, teens, adults, extremely old vampire teens. It has it all. Everything worked well together in this recent installment by Claudia Gray.
Characters:
Bianca and Lucas's love holds strong even thought they are forced apart. We learn more about Bianca, her parents, and her roommate Raquel. We also learn a bit more about snob Courtney. And a major character this time around is one of my favorite characters: Balthazar. We also meet his sister in this book, who turns out to be a major character.
Writing:
Claudia did such a better job on the writing this time around! I remember reading Evernight feeling confused and a bit ahead of where the reader should have been or something like that. Not with this book. I felt right at home. Everything matched and met up at the correct times. There was no confusion about the storyline, the characters, or even where it was all leading to. It was very well done.
Setting:
Well, the setting is Evernight Academy. A giant stone building with towers and gargoyles. The setting is setup very well. A lot takes place within Evernight and the details needed to convey the setting were there, not aggressive but not lacking either. We got to travel a bit in this book and each new setting was welcome and presented just great.
Plot:
This book was chock full o' badassness! There was lots of action, lots of planning, lots of collaboration between characters. Overall, I had tons of fun reading this. Everything worked out in the end with little-to-no loose ends, well except for the ending, but that's to be expected!
Passion:
Wow. The passion is totally there. Between Lucas and Bianca and even Bianca and Balty. Lucas and Bianca have a very close scene that they both ended up confused by what the other wants and it ends terribly, terribly bad. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I felt totally sad for Bianca but I also understood where Lucas was coming from. And what makes it even worse is that Balthazar is such a nice guy, vampire, whatever, and he and Bianca would work great together. They share a moment that was so hot it was freezing....for a moment I thought I was reading one of my adult romances.
Cover:
The cover isn't that great. They stayed true with the artwork of the first book with a contrasted pic of a girl but I don't get it. I do love the font that Stargazer is set in though. And the purple is cool too.
Overall:
This was a great book. I totally loved it and I was soo sad with the end. Because I didn't want it to end. Here's the closing line:
"Yeah." I looked at Lucas as I took his hand in mine. "I'm with you."
So, needless to say, I WANT MORE!
The next book titled Hourglass will probably be a whole year away.
There are some cool wallpapers and avatars on Claudia's website!
Stay tuned for my contest of a BRAND NEW copy of Stargazer! I'll be posting it sometime later this week!
http://bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com/2009/03/stargazer-evernight-academy-book-2-by.html