The Great Gatsby by Kaitlin Kimbrell

The Great Gatsby

by: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jay Gatsby thought that by changing his whole life and throwing big parties he would end up with the love of his life. Jay started his life in the Midwest with a different name. Jay Gatsby's real name is James Gats, but after he met Daisy he wanted to change his life. He went out and created a life that he knew would win Daisy over. However, life doesn't always turn out as we plan and we cannot recreate the past.

Nick Carraway went to start a new chapter in his life. He moved closer to his cousin Daisy and met Jay Gatsby by happenstance. The two became neighbors and with Nick's help Jay re-meet Daisy. Their lives will forever be changed.

I didn't really enjoy this book because there was too much deception, cheating, and fake people. When we meet Gatsby to me he seems creepy he stares at Daisy's house from a distance and she doesn't know he is there. Then they make Nick help them sneak around Tom (Daisy's husband) so they can see each other. All the while Tom is cheating on Daisy. None of this is okay with me and I really just dislike this book. 



Cracked up to be review by Kaitlin Kimbrell

cracked up to be

by Courtney Summers

When you're perfect with everything you do people tend to want to be like you. Everybody body has a desire to be perfect, but what is the breaking point?

For Parker Fadley being perfect was all she knew. She was the perfect cheerleader, had the perfect popular boyfriend, the perfect best friend, and the perfect grades. Parker was the most popular girl at St. Peter's High, until that one night. That is when perfect Parker became the perfect mess. Nobody really knew why Parker started to come to school drunk, quit as captain of the cheerleading team, broke up with her boyfriend, and started to hate everyone. What happen to perfect Parker? Did she find her breaking point? Can you just not ever stay perfect like you think?

This book is not in my usual choices, but I really liked it. The struggles that Parker goes through actually shows what many people my age might be going through too. This put me in Parker shoes and made me think 'what would I have done if I would have been her?' I don't know what I would have done and I don't know who I would have wanted on my side, if anyone at all. This book did make me realize though that nobody is as perfect as we think.



Better Than Yesterday reviewed by Kaitlin Kimbrell

better than yesterday

by Robyn Schneider

"Sometimes, when we are not looking for a solution, but rather a different way of viewing the problem, it is permissible, even appropriate, to break the rules." Skylar, Marissa, Blake, and Charley became best friends’ freshman year and had together created a group called the Hell Risers, but much has happened since then. Skylar became known as the dirty girl, Marissa was more of just a nerdy girl, Charley had to please his parents with everything he did, and Blake left Hilliard. Now, however, Blake is back and wants to put the old gang of Hell Risers back together again. Since Blake has been gone though he has changed too much and they are scared that something might happen to him, plus they need to keep a secret from him so he won't hate Skylar. Will they stay best friends? Will they fight for what they believe? Will they just forget about each other and never look back? What will happen? To find out read the book.

This book was good! I enjoyed it and it was a quick read because of how interesting it was. There was such a mix of feelings and everything that happened will make you love each character. I honestly loved this book and am thinking about looking into this author for more books. Love and scandal all in one, what could be better? This book really kept me intrigued the whole time and I am glad I chose it to read.

Tales of the Madman Underground -- Review by Hope Austin

Tales of the Madman Underground
by John Barnes
****stars

The year is 1973 and it's the first day of senior year, and there's one thing Karl Shoemaker wants to be: normal. No funny looks, no forced sympathy. That's easier said than done. Normal kids don't have boozers for parents, nor do they have to work five jobs to support themselves. Worst of all for Karl, normal means distancing himself from the Madmen, a group of kids who, for whatever reason, are sent to group therapy from people who don't know how to deal with them to people who don't want to deal with them. Over the years, they've been like a slightly more stable family for him. Luckily, Karl has has his two best friends, Paul and Squid, and the new girl Marti (a "genius" whose parents were forced to let "take it easy" for a year) to help him figure out what normal really is.

There is a definite Catcher in the Rye-esque feel to this book. Not so much in the subject matter, but more so in the tone of the story. Karl is an angry, angry boy and has every reason to be. The thing I like best about this book is the realism. No one is cartoonishly evil, nor is anyone ridiculously beautiful. it also really ties in to one of the main themes of the book: you never really get the whole story; everything has layers. As for the setting, you don't really notice that it's the seventies that much. There aren't obnoxious pop culture references on every other page reminding the reader that the story does, in fact, take place in 1973 and like that. Overall it's a pretty phenomenal coming of age story. Definitely check it out.

Review by Aspen Gates

Please Ignore Vera Dietz

A.S. King

**** stars

Vera Deitz has had it rough since she was twelve. From her mother running off with some other man when Vera was twelve, to her best or ex-best friend winding up dead when she was seventeen. Now eighteen years old, Vera continues on with her life with her dad, or she tries to, but what nobody knows is the secret she's keeping that could clear her dead ex-best friends name from being the one who burned down Zimmerman's Pet Store. However, Vera stays quiet and continues to work delivering pizzas across town ignoring her dead friend Charlie's signals about clearing his name. But what is really stopping Vera from telling the police what really happened to the Pet store? And who was actually responsible for it?

I gave Please Ignore Vera Dietz four stars because even though it turned out good in the end, I had to really push myself to want to read this book at the beginning. However, I really felt that this book showed a lot of what teens go through with peer pressure, and it shows that not every body can overcome it. I definitely recommend this book to those who like books on people trying to overcome there fears. So check this book out in the O'Hara library.