The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious, Year I Truly, Completely Lost it by Lisa Shanahan

Lisa Shanahan is a truly funny author. She makes you laugh about a hundred times in this book. Gemma is a very true to life, funny character, and if this book had a sequel, I would read it. You imagine when your reading this book that Gemma and Raven are 16-17 years old, but they're really only 14 or so. They act rather mature, don't you think? Raven is a great character, and when he's in the hotseat for Caliban, I imagine that he gave a very heart-wrenching performance. I love Raven and Gemma, and I wish they had a longer story, because I adore them.

Here's the Blurb:


IN MY FAMILY, when anyone rides the wave of their emotions, we say they're chucking a birkett. When the emotion drives out all common sense, we say they're chucking a big one. The telltale signs are: flaming cheeks, shortness of breath, bulging eyes, and a prolonged illogical outburst.


Gemma Stone is convinced that it's always unseemly to chuck a birkett and that it's actually insane to chuck one in front of a complete stranger. But that was before she fell for a boy who barely knows she exists, before she auditioned for the school play, before she met the family of freaks her sister Debbie is marrying into, before the unpredictable Raven De Head took an interest in her, and before she realized that at the right time and for the right reason, a birkett could be a beautiful thing.


                                  I give this Book Three Stars.

Tiger's Curse(Tiger's Saga #1) by Colleen Houck

Kelsey Hayes. What makes her different? Different than all those other characters, I mean? She's cool. She says stuff I would actually say, and she's helping Ren and Kishan break the curse. Who wouldn't think she was awesome? Some people, they wouldn't. But they don't matter. That's not the point though.This is: I Love this Book. I love the characters. I love the story. But most of all, I love Kishan. Sorry. I had to say that. I love him more than I do Ren. But that's because I got to know him in Tiger's Quest. (Yes. I'm reviewing a book that I've already read.) But anyways, I want a shahara dress. Just throwing that out there.

Here's the Blurb:

The last thing teenager Kelsey Hayes thought she'd be doing over the summer was meeting Ren, a mysterious white tiger and cursed Indian prince when she learns she alone can break the Tiger's curse, Kelsey's life is turned upside-down. The unlikely duo journeys halfway around the world to piece together an Indian prophecy, find a way to free the man trapped by a centuries-old spell, and discover the path to their true destiny.


                           I give this Book Three Stars.

The Hangman in the Mirror by Kate Cayley

I love it. Francoise is a great character, and she tells her story in a way that all of the words flow together beautifully. As a young woman about to be hanged, her thoughts aren't jumbled and scared, they're actually kind of calculating. (Not in a cold calculating way.) In a I'm going to be hanged way. She knows what she's done is wrong, and she was going to put them back, but she got caught first. Francoise is very complex and likeable character, and, well, she was real! Isn't it awesome when authors reimagine events like that? Anyways, Loved it.

Here's the Blurb:

A strong-willed 16-year-old girl fights for survival in 18th-century North America.

Françoise Laurent has never had an easy life. The only surviving child of a destitute washerwoman and wayward soldier, she must rely only on herself to get by. When her parents die suddenly from the smallpox ravishing New France (modern-day Montreal), Françoise sees it as a chance to escape the life she thought she was trapped in.

Seizing her newfound opportunity, Françoise takes a job as an aide to the wife of a wealthy fur trader. The poverty-ridden world she knew transforms into a strange new world full of privilege and fine things - and of never having to beg for food. But Françoise's relationships with the other servants in Madame Pommereau's house are tenuous, and Madame Pommereau isn't an easy woman to work for. When Françoise is caught stealing a pair of her mistress's beautiful gloves, she faces a future even worse than she could have imagined: thrown in jail, she is sentenced to death by hanging. Once again, Françoise is left to her own devices to survive ... Is she cunning enough to convince the prisoner in the cell beside her to become the hangman and marry her, which, by law, is the only thing that could save her life?

Based on an actual story and filled with illuminating historical detail, THE HANGMAN IN THE MIRROR transports readers to the harsh landscape of a new land that is filled with even harsher class divisions and injustices.

                                   I give this Book Four Stars. I recieved it via NetGalley.