Derby Girl by Shauna Cross

If punk rock were a sport run by surly chicks on roller skates, the result would be Roller Derby. Every one of the Derby Girls is completely gorgeous in her own way: There are skinny girls, chubby girls, short girls, girls with big butts, girls with big boobs, girls with no boobs, girls with tattoos, girls without--and the crowd adores them all. In short, it's the most Bliss-friendly activity I've ever seen, so refreshingly anti-pageant. I'm a total convert.


Bliss Cavendar, daughter of a beauty pageant fanatic and therefore subject to all the horrors that entails, is doing her best to survive high school. She hates her town, hates her job, and hates all things pageant-related. The only bright spot in her life is Pash (as in passion), her crazy best friend who always manages to cheer her up.

That is, until Bliss finds herself in possession of a flyer for a Roller Derby competition. She doesn't know what it is about the flyer, but she knows she must attend this event. Together with Pash, she drives up to Austin, Texas, and immediately falls in love with everything about the sport. She takes a chance and ends up making the team as the newest member of the Hurl Scouts, led by Malice in Wonderland.

Under the name Babe Ruthless, Bliss skates her way to victory and everything that she loves. She meets a guy she's crazy about and life seems like it couldn't get any better. But Bliss had to lie about her age to get in, lie to her parents about where she's been going, and now the dates for one of the most important matches and the pageant her mother will kill her if she doesn't participate in are on the same day. Bliss learns pretty quickly that a good thing can just as easily turn around and leave us face down on the track.

Derby Girl by Shauna Cross was a great read. I picked it up at the library after finding out that the movie "Whip It" (which I adored) was based off a book. True to form, it was wonderful and a pretty quick read. Bliss is the type of girl I can easily identify with in many ways, even if I don't hold the same opinions with certain things. I found myself cheering her on from the get-go. (A fellow hater-of-pink? Success.)

I would definitely suggest this book for any girl (or guy) who likes a good coming-of-age tale. I seem to be a rather big fan of that sub-genre and this is a pretty good addition to that category. The only criticism I would give is that the narrative could use a bit more description. Otherwise, it was easily read and I tore through it.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


This time I follow Malice's advice. I think of Brooke, and Corbi, and all the cranky customers who never tip--all of it--and just as Robin goes low to pass, I throw my hip and shoulder and--bingo--I make contact. Robin slams to the track as I skate away.

Those Amazing Ringlings and their Circus by Gene Plowden

"Sure, it's a gamble," John admitted, "but so's everything else. You'll never get ahead if you don't take a chance. Help yourself or you'll never get helped. We're smart and we can do it."


I picked up Those Amazing Ringlings and their Circus because I was interested in learning more about circus life after reading about the tattooed men and women often displayed in circuses via Vintage Tattoos by Carol Clerk.

Those Amazing Ringlings and their Circus is an extensive biography of the Ringling brothers, how their circus started, and a retelling of it's fight to keep going until the very end. It was incredibly informative and I found it quite interesting.

The Ringling brothers started off with a dream that they could create a circus to rival those big names like Barnum & Bailey. To those around them, it seemed like a goal too far away to ever be accomplished, but those people were wrong. The Ringling brothers, as you probably are well aware, are still considered somewhat of a household name, though their circus went out of business decades ago. The Ringling brothers themselves had a hand in many different enterprises during their lifetimes. John, in particular, opened a museum, created portions of the national railroad, and helped discover oil in Texas.

Overall, it's quite an interesting journey of how one family affected our nation and also, how greed makes a person become something of a villain. John Ringling may be admired for his drive and business prowess, but he was a sad, bitter old man who died with few friends still at his side. It's rather sad, in all honesty.

This book is not for everyone. It's pretty straightforward in being presented as a comprehensive history of events surrounding the rise and fall of the Ringling Circus. It took me a while to get through, though the writing is easy to read and the history intriguing. I would suggest it to anyone who really has an interest in circus history and doesn't mind a longer read.


Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥


Since the early days, circus life had had no appeal for [John]; he was a front man all the way, who liked luxury and high living. Perhaps it was more than mere coincidence that he did not show up for business conferences until the fag end of the day. By that time most men had done a day's work and were tired, thinking of getting home to wives and childen.

Freefall by Mindi Scott

"I've never liked moving or having to make all new friends. But I'm noticing that people who go from elementary school to middle school to high school with the same kids never get a chance to start over. Like, maybe a certain guy will always be seen as a troublemaker, while some new girl can move to town and be accepted because no one knows her."


Seth McCoy is a sixteen year-old boy with debilitating stage fright who happens to be a musician and is dealing with the recent death of his best friend, Isaac. After finding Isaac dead in his front lawn after a night of partying, Seth blames himself.

Then he meets Rosetta. Rosetta is somewhat new in school and she throws him for a loop. It's not long before he's stumbling head over heels for her. But Rosetta has her own fears and regrets, secrets that haunt her in very much the same way as Seth's do.

The two of them falling in love sounds crazy. It would come with so many challenges, so many issues they would have to push through. But maybe it's worth it. And maybe the other is exactly the push they need to deal with the problems they've bottled up for so long.

Freefall by Mindi Scott sounded good when I saw the cover and read the summary, but it exceeded my expectations by a long shot. Freefall is more than a teenage love story. It's about choosing who you want to be, learning from your past, and overcoming your fears. Scott's writing is well-done and her characters are so believable that I could see them walking off the page and commencing life as planned. Each character, as in real life, has their own set of problems and issues that they need to work through. Not all do, but some are able to come through this sequence of events for the better.

The pacing was perfect and the situations written exactly how they ought to be. Nothing was rushed or confusing. Overall, it was a lovely journey that I enjoyed getting the chance to join. I definitely suggest picking this one up for a good read.

Oh, and a fun detail I didn't notice until after I finished the book and was flipping through pages: the page numbers on the side start at the top of the page and slowly move downward as if they're free falling throughout the story. I love it when there are little gems like that in the design of a book. Very cool.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


"That's why bungee jumping is such a rush," she said, seeming not to notice what she was doing to me here. "Because you know the jump should kill you. They say the people with the most fear of jumping are the ones who end up loving it the most. So I went for it."

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

"The magic is only in what the books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us."


I'm not sure where I first heard about Fahrenheit 451. It's most likely that I have heard it mentioned among the ranks of banned books (which is quite ironic for a book centered on the evils of censorship).

I decided to pick it up after reading an article about Ray Bradbury upon his death two weeks ago. The more I read about Mr. Bradbury, the more I am convinced that we think similarly and the more disappointed I become that I'll never have the chance to meet him now. Thankfully, I can still explore his lovely mind through articles written about him and through his own works.

Now, let's get back to the book itself. Fahrenheit 451 is the story of Guy Montag, a fireman in a future where houses are fireproof and firemen start fires rather than put them out. In particular, the set fire to books.

Books have been banned for as long as Guy can remember. Why? They went out of fashion on their own. People chose to stop reading and, by extension, stop thinking. Before long, books were made illegal because truly thinking made people unhappy. And even if it made you happy to learn, it made the people around you feel stupid and therefore unhappy. When you could simply drown in your superficial world bombarded by what is meant to be full-time pleasure, why ruin that with conscious thought?

Guy thinks nothing of the way things are until he meets a seventeen year old girl whose observations and questions make him stop and consider the way things are. Why is it so weird that she likes to be outside? Why is it okay for children to murder each other? What is so threatening about books that they have become illegal? What's so intoxicating about them that people sob over their burnt collections or even choose to go up in flames with them?

The tale told in Fahrenheit 451 is one that anyone who even remotely enjoys reading will appreciate. The story paints a stunning portrait of the evils of censorship and just how easy it is to cross the line into a territory where we don't want to find ourselves. This book makes you sit back and think. I will definitely be shelling out the cash needed to add this to my personal library. I would definitely put this among the ranks of my all-time favorite books. Add it to your "to be read" list ASAP.

Rating: ~♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥~


We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real.

Top Ten Tuesday: Summer TBR List

Over at The Broke and the Bookish, they have this thing called Top Ten Tuesday. Each Tuesday they give other bloggers a chance to participate in making a top ten list with them. This week the topic at hand is this summer's To Be Read list. This is meant to be each person's top ten books they are excited about this summer. They could be new releases or old favorites that you're planning on rereading: whatever you choose!

I thought this sounded like a lovely blog post idea and couldn't pass up the chance to do it. Seeing as I'm currently incapacitated right now due to some burn wounds I recently sustained, I thought this would be a fun activity to keep me occupied for a couple of minutes. 

Anyway, here's my list, in no particular order. I don't have all of the books I'm going to read planned out, so obviously these are the ones I know I'm pretty certain about reading and that I am intensely excited about. 

Enjoy!:

1) Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I saw the movie adaptation of this book a little over a year ago, I believe, and I loved it. I'm a pretty big fan of Greek mythology and any storyline that incorporates that into it is definitely something I want to check out. 

2) A Modern Look at Monsters by Daniel Cohen

Sounds creepy to some, I'm sure, but this book caught my eye at the library and I'm super excited to read it. I like finding out the origins of things and this book will likely prove a good arsenal for creating fictional dangers as an author.

3) American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent

This is another book I just happened to stumble upon the other day at the library. Being a self-proclaimed nerd, this book immediately appealed to me. Besides the title and cover both put a huge smile on my face. I'm sure the interior will do the same.

4) Those Amazing Ringlings and Their Circus by Gene Plowden

After reading in Vintage Tattooing about how the origins of tattooing in America are closely tied with circus folk, my curiosity was piqued. I wanted to learn more about how circuses used to work in the early nineteenth century and such, so I picked up this book. I can't wait to see what it has in store. 

5) Paper Towns by John Green

To be fair, I've already read this. If you've read blog for a while you'll already know that this happens to be one of my all-time favorite books. Still, it merits rereading and this is the summer to do it.

6) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I adored this book. Like Paper Towns, I've already read it and it is also one of my all-time favorites. That is enough reason to reread it in itself, but the movie adaptation is also coming out later this year, thus it is near imperative. 

7) Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Like Percy Jackson, this is the beginning of a series, but one I've been dying to read for a while now. It looks wonderful and highly original and it's about time I went about reading it.

8, 9, & 10) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

I know, I'm a terrible nerd. . . but I've seen all the movies more times than I can count. That doesn't really help, but I'm going to amend that. I've had this trilogy on my to-read list for a long while now and I'm going to finally buckle down and do so.

What are your top ten or even top five books to read this summer? Are you planning on reading any of the same ones I am? Or have you already read some of them and want to give your input? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Book by Book by Michael Dirda

At any age, but especially in childhood, books can transform lives . . . And what children behold, they become.


Yet again I've stumbled upon a book from the library that I literally have to buy as soon as I have the funds to do so. Barring Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable (which I am still currently in the process of reading), this is the book I have written out the most notes for in my book journal. It spans quite a few pages.

I'm a big fan of books that tout the importance of reading. I clearly love to read and I want to be a published author in the near future. Therefore, it follows that I very much enjoy examining this fascination I have for books and the way they really can change lives. Stop What You're Doing And Read This! was just that sort of book and I knew Book by Book would be quite similar.

It was even better.

Michael Dirda is a masterful critic and wordsmith in his own right. He begins by explaining his own passion for books and learning, how it was fostered at an early age and has continued to grow every day of his life. He explains that this book is, in essence, a collection of advice and life lessons gleaned from the pages of books and their authors, mostly concerning reading but also expanding to general advice for life in and of itself.

Everything about Book by Book was wonderful. Dirda has a poetic touch to his words and has become the type of teacher he touts as the best -- they type whose passion for what they teach inspires that passion in others. I may already have such a passion, yet even still, my passion seemed to feed off of his, giving me even more excitement for the topic at hand.

I would suggest this book for anyone who loves to read or is just curious as to why reading is so important. I assuredly benefited from the information I found in this small volume and I hope you will do the same. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm poring through this book a second time.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 


But it is impossible to read serious novels, poetry, essays, and biographies without also growing convinced that they gradually enlarge our minds, refine our spirits, make us more sensitive and understanding. In this way, the humanities encourage the development of our own humanity.

Patterning Works

I'm currently in the midst of reading Book by Book by Michael Dirda, basically a book written about the importance of reading and how books and learning change our lives. Look forward to the review of it soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share a particularly interesting passage at the beginning of Dirda's book. It is essentially a list of books one ought to read in order to have a good grasp of world literature and a firm foundation in one's reading.

I have already read some of these, but there are plenty here that I haven't arrived at just yet. Rest assured, they are now being taken into consideration when it comes to books I need to read in the near future.

Anyway, here's the passage. You may do with it what you will:

What should a person know of the world's literature? It has always seemed obvious to me that the great patterning works ought to lie at the heart of any structured reading program. By "patterning works" I mean those that later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against. There aren't that many of these key books, and they aren't all obvious classics. Here's a roughly chronological short list of those that the diligent might read through in a year or two. For such famous works you can hardly go wrong with any good modern editions, though for the Bible the Authorized, or King James, Version is the one that has most influenced the diction and imagery of English Prose.

The Bible (Old and New Testament)

Bulfinch's Mythology (or any other accounts of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths)

 Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey

Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Dante, Inferno

The Arabian Nights

Thomas Malory, Le Morte D'Arthur (tales of King Arthur and his knights)

Shakespeare's major plays, especially Hamlet, Henry IV, Part One, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest

Cervantes, Don Quixote

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen

Any substantial collection of the world's major folktales

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 

Mobsters and Gangsters by LIFE

The Golden Age of the Gangster coincided precisely with Prohibition, then faded as the syndicate--the American Mafia and attendant or affiliated organizations--said emphatically: You're in or you're out. If you were out, you were butting in, and therefore you didn't exist, at least not for long.

This "book" came in a magazine-like form that I happened to notice a few months ago in Tom Thumb. I picked it up, leafed through it, and decided I had to get it. When the cashier gave me a skeptical look and questioned me as to why I was buying a magazine about mobsters and gangsters, my best friend was quick to inform her that it was research for a book I was writing. (This was true, but I've sense put that story on hold.)

It was about time for me to read Mobsters and Gangsters and I'm glad I did. This book (or magazine, depending on your perspective) is packed with biographies on America's most notorious gangsters and mobsters -- Legs Diamond, Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, and many others. Filled with fascinating details about the lifestyles and peculiarities of the gangsters that have made their way into legend.

This is an easy, quick read and insanely informational. The narrative was very personable and filled with detail. I learned a great deal about the gangs and mobs of old and how they transformed from loose memberships to full-blown syndicates in a little over a century. I would suggest this to anyone who is interested in the topic and wants to know a bit more. I was highly satisfied by the end, and I'm definitely eager to learn more.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Mobsters and gangsters go about their work--and play--with a certain sense of style. They celebrate themselves via their homes, their cars, their pinkie rings, their silk suits and, yes, their graves.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

"He was in there two hours," said Calcifer, "putting spells on his face. Vain fool!"
"There you are, then," said Michael. "The day Howl forgets to do that will be the day I believe he's really in love, and not before."

After reading The Space Between Trees, I immediately went online and bought it on Amazon. And here again I've stumbled upon a book that I absolutely must purchase as soon as I get a bit of money.

I didn't exactly stumble upon Howl's Moving Castle. In fact, I happen to be quite fond of the movie adaptation. When I found that it was based off a book, I knew I had to read it. Once again, I am profoundly glad I did. It is nearly an entirely different story and I loved every second of the journey.

Howl's Moving Castle is the story of a girl named Sophie. As the eldest of three, she is doomed to an entirely uneventful and unsuccessful life. She resigns herself to this fate, even as her younger sisters go out to seek their fortunes. However, fate doesn't seem to agree with her on how her life is supposed to turn out.

When the hat shop she runs with her stepmother is visited by the Witch of the Waste, Sophie is put under a curse that turns her into an old woman. Unsure of what to do and unable to tell anyone of the curse, Sophie decides to leave the home she has always known in order to find her destiny and hopefully an end to the curse.

When she seeks lodging in a moving castle belonging to Wizard Howl, she expects to be turned out almost immediately. However, she makes friends with its occupants: a fire demon named Calcifer, Howl's fifteen year-old apprentice (Michael), and the dreaded wizard himself. Howl is nothing like she had been told. Still, the vain wizard manages to trample on every last one of Sophie's nerves.

That's not the only trouble, though. The Witch of the Waste is hot on their tail, eager to get Howl in her clutches, and she'll stop at nothing to succeed in her aims. On top of that, Sophie needs to find a way to break her own spell. Calcifer promises to break it if she can break the contract between he and Howl, but to do that, Sophie is going to have to find out the terms on her own.

Howl's Moving Castle is a fantastical adventure through a land filled with wonder. I enjoyed every moment of the journey and couldn't wait to see where it would take me next. I would advise it for both young teenagers and grown adults. It's a compelling read and lovely story.

Rating: ~♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥~

It seems as if those of high ability cannot resist some extra, dangerous stroke of cleverness, which results in a fatal flaw and begins a slow decline to evil.

The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams

I shake my head and as as I do, a tear shakes off my cheek, and I realize that I've been crying, but I don't know when it started . It's not the kind of crying that you force up and out of your throat but the kind of crying where the tears slip out your eyes and down your cheeks, dissolving into one another at your chin in a stealthy escape.

I picked up this book at the library because the binding looked nice, but the cover blew me away. A book with a cover (seen on the right) as cool as this one deserves to be read, in my opinion. Once again, my tendency to judge a book by its cover led me to a pretty great book. The Space Between Trees is definitely in my top ten favorite books, if not my top five. 

In The Space Between Trees, Katie Williams tells the story of Evie, a teenage girl with a tendency to improve the truth and straight out lie without thinking of the consequences. After the death of a girl Evie knew as a child, this bad habit is exactly what leads her on a collision course with the girl's father and her best friend, Hadley. 

Somehow, despite Evie's initial lie, she and Hadley become friends. This is a first for Evie, who has always something of a loner. But this new friendship launches the two girls into searching for the person who murdered Hadley's best friend, Zabet. Things quickly grow out of hand and Evie has to figure out where to draw the line in being a loyal friend and putting herself and others in more danger than she could have anticipated.

Altogether, I found this to be a wonderful book. Filled to the brim with intriguing descriptions that really pull the reader in, the detail is drool-worthy. I found myself poring over paragraphs, trying to analyze exactly how Williams was able to describe things in just enough detail to keep you interested without becoming overwhelming. There are plenty of life lessons to be learned within the pages of The Space Between the Trees, as well as a good amount of symbolism and an ending you couldn't have anticipated.

This was a lovely book that I look forward to rereading in the near future. There are few books that I finish and want to immediately read again, but this was definitely one of those. Everything about it was well-done. I ended up purchasing this book because I enjoyed it so much. 

I suggest picking up The Space Between Trees at your nearest convenience.

Rating: ~♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥~

And so there it is, the answer. It doesn't feel like how I thought it would at all. I don't feel the urge to gasp or say aha! I am not wiser or safer. The world is not set to rights. It is a small, sad, messy world, and I am a small, sad, messy girl.

Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson

"Sometimes we all get a little broken." 


I just read a sequel . . . a sequel to a book I've never read.

This was entirely an accident. I had no idea that this book was a sequel. There was nothing on the cover indicating it and nothing in the story that made me think I had missed out on an entirely different storyline. I wouldn't have even found out when I did if I wasn't the type that likes to read the "About the Author" section, no matter how much I already know about said author, and saw that there was another book called Suite Scarlett.

This distresses me in ways you cannot imagine. I do not like reading books out of order. I suppose I'll just have to get over it and read the first book when I get the chance. I was wondering how Scarlett landed  such an interesting job.

Now, to the book review itself!

Scarlett Fever is the story of a fifteen year-old girl whose family runs a run-down hotel in New York City. She works as a personal assistant to her brother's agent. He is an up and coming actor who soon lands a role that has him labeled as "New York's Most Hated" and dodging flying doughnut missiles from angry fans. Scarlett's little sister is up to something questionable and her older sister seems to be drifting further and further away from them.

To add to the drama, Scarlett's boss, being an acting agent, has a new actress she wants to sign. This actress has a younger brother who is more than prepared to drive Scarlett up a wall with his obnoxious behavior and rude manners.

It seems that Scarlett is the only one who has it together, but things are slowly deteriorating and it's going to take quite a bit of work (and a particularly hazardous dance move) to keep this family from sinking under the pressure.

Despite the fact that I just read a sequel first, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Johnson's writing and storytelling is even more compelling than 13 Little Blue Envelopes and I would definitely peg this book as the better of the two.

Johnson's descriptions and wordplay are superb in the telling of Scarlett's story. I couldn't help but admire certain turns of phrase that simply worked. Descriptions like, "The formaldehyde was overwhelming. It smelled like a sterilized headache." I could almost smell my ninth grade Biology class all over again. There are more little gold bits like this sprinkled throughout the text that I wholeheartedly encourage you to keep an eye out for. They were a special delight to me in the reading of this story.

The only criticism I have is the abrupt ending. It worked well enough, but caught me off-guard and left certain bits unresolved. Of course, now that I'm aware that Scarlett Fever is a part of a series, it makes much more sense now.

All in all, it's a good novel and worth taking the time to read.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


[I finally read the prequel: Suite Scarlett. Click here to see my review.]


The feeling of loss was so profound that for a moment, she couldn't breathe. Something wonderful had happened here -- something confusing, but wonderful -- and now it was gone, and it would never come back.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

"To die will be an awfully big adventure."

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is an incredibly familiar story. The tale of the boy who will never grow up is one that has fascinated us since we were children. It was about time I got around to reading the actual story and I'm quite glad I did.

For those who are unfamiliar with the tale (though I assume there are few who fall under this category), this book is about a group of siblings who have the good fortune to meet a boy named Peter Pan, but it is mostly the tale of Peter Pan himself.

Leader of the lost boys and an adventurer to the core, Peter leaves his home on Neverland to hear the stories Wendy Darling tells her brothers every night so as to relay him to his lost boys. But one day he loses his shadow in their home, which leads to the introduction of Wendy to Peter, whom she and her brothers have only known in their dreams. When he offers to bring she and her brothers back to Neverland, it is an offer they couldn't refuse even if they wanted to.

Though a magical land beyond their wildest dreams, even Neverland has its share of dangers. Otherwise, there would be no adventures and Peter would lose interest. Captain Hook and his crew are out to kill Peter and they'll do whatever it takes to accomplish that feat, even if that means playing dirty.

Peter Pan is every bit the tale that captured our imaginations as children and continues to do so in adulthood. Barrie proves a master in the way he crafts this tale and the imagery he uses to send your imagination reeling. I was hooked from the beginning, no matter how many times I had heard the tale.

I would suggest this to parents and children alike. There is much to be learned within its pages and plenty of room for anyone's imagination, young or old, to soar. All you need is a little fairy dust.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

Not the pain of this but its unfairness was what dazed Peter. It made him quite helpless. He could only stare, horrified. Every child is affected thus the first time he is treated unfairly. All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness. After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but he will never afterward be quite the same boy. No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter.