Monthly Archives:: June 2015

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Review: SRSLY Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Courtney Carbone

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I received this book for free from Random House Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: SRSLY Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Courtney CarboneSRSLY Hamlet by Courtney Carbone, William Skakespeare
Published by Random House BFYR on May 26th 2015
Genres: Classics, Comedy, Retellings, YA
Source: Random House Children's Books
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four-stars

Hamlet, one of the greatest stories ever told . . . in texts?!

Imagine: What if Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, and the tragic Ophelia had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!

A kingdom on the brink of war.
A stolen throne.
A boy seeking revenge.

and h8. The classics just got a whole lot more interesting. 😉

tl;dr A Shakespeare play told through its characters texting with emojis, checking in at certain locations, and updating their relationship statuses. The perfect gift for hip theater lovers and teens.

A glossary and cast of characters are included for those who need it. For example: tl;dr means too long; didn’t read.

This book was all sorts of fun!! Another book from the OMG Shakespeare line and it’s full of OMG’s WTF’s and tons of emoji’s to make the story interesting. Like the previous book I reviewed, YOLO Juliet, it’s not a replacement for this classic, but a fun way to get people interested who might not be to begin with. I vaguely remember reading Hamlet in high school and I liked it well enough, but this made me want to pick it up and read it again. This tells the story well enough, though not completely. It’s a good start for those who don’t get Shakespeare, or find the writing hard to follow. I mean, it really is like another language. But so is this. A language that is modernized in such a digital and social networking world.

Hamlet was a character that I don’t remember whether I liked or hated when I read it the first time around. I liked him when I read this though. He’s got personality and snark. He’s fun to read. Some of the texts between him and others were hilarious. This poor dude lost his dad, then his mom goes and marries his fathers brother. Not to mention, he see’s his fathers ghost and finds out that he was murdered by said brother. What’s a boy to do but uncover the truth for everyone to know right? Oh, so fun in text speak.

There’s not really much else to say about this book. I breezed through it quickly since it’s very short. I also couldn’t put it down because of the enjoyment I got out of reading it. I admit, there were times I was a little lost wondering what a certain emoji meant, but I figured it out okay. There’s also a handy part in the back that has the 411 on some of them. I think these are great for anyone who is looking for a bit of entertainment, and a good way to get some knowledge of the stories of Shakespeare. I would still recommend reading the original classics, but these are a great addition to them. I hope that we get many more of these OMG Shakespeare books. I will have to buy them all.

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Audiobook Review: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

Audiobook Review: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

Posted by on 06/29/2015 • 2 Comments

I don’t really know to say about this book since I didn’t really care for it much. The only reason I finished it was because I was listening to the audiobook on the train home from NYC and I decided I might as well finish since I got that far. I don’t really know why I even wanted to read it really. Maybe because I really liked her first book, but I hate cheating so I was bound to not like this one. It wasn’t just that though. Some of the characters besides Molly just really irritated me. Then the romance was just not something I could get behind. The one thing I did enjoy about this was the narrator though. Allyson Ryan did really well at bringing emotion to…

Audiobook Review: None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

Audiobook Review: None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

Posted by on 06/26/2015 • 5 Comments

This is the second book that I have read that covers the topic of intersex, and it was very good. I love learning new things, and though I already had a small bit of knowledge, I did learn many new things. What I really enjoyed about this was that you are discovering things along with the MC. It was interesting to see her discovering this about herself at her age, not knowing that there was anything different her whole life up until that point. There were some great side characters, then some not so great ones too. I wish it had been a bit more deep and packed more emotion into it, but in general I was very pleased with it.

Kristin is a pretty popular girl, and a…

Review: YOLO Juliet by William Shakespeare and Brett Wright

Review: YOLO Juliet by William Shakespeare and Brett Wright

Posted by on 06/23/2015 • 5 Comments

I admit, I loved reading the original Romeo and Juliet in school, but I know that for some people it isn’t something they enjoyed. I think that this was a fun way to get people interested in the basics of the story in a modern way. I thought the group texts and messages were entertaining. I especially loved all the emojis in it. I do have to say though, this is not a replacement for the original, but it was fun to read.

Everyone knows how the story goes. Star-crossed lovers ending in tragic death, but this book tells the story in a less morbid way. This is a kind of hard review to write since it’s not a typical book. I do think that for kids in school who…

Review: Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

Review: Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell

Posted by on 06/19/2015 • 15 Comments

Don’t get me wrong – despite my three-star rating, this has got to be the most refreshing Cinderella reimagination I’ve read.

I’ve always wanted more fairy tale retellings in a Steampunk setting. It’s new, it’s unique, and visualizing all the gears and machines around characters who are based on our favorite tales from childhood simply gives me the warm fuzzies. All the possibilities! All the unique things our character can do with herself and with her surroundings!

In that aspect, this book certainly delivered.

Do you remember how Disney portrayed our favorite fairy tale heroines in the early 90s (and well before that) as ladies who needed a man in order to be happy? Remember how romance was the be-all end-all to their Happy Ever Afters?

Well, Mechanica takes all that and…

Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Posted by on 06/17/2015 • 21 Comments

If ever the times comes I’d need to pick the ultimate young adult sci-fi novel, I would choose Illuminae without any second thoughts.

You guys may be well-aware of my huge love for space opera. There’s really nothing more mesmerizing than a tragic and action-packed story set in the vastness of empty space, where you are in the middle of absolute nothingness, where stars, rocks, and planets are seperated by unimaginable distances. I don’t know, it’s just such a beautiful setting for me. Maybe it’s because I find the universe to be the starting ground of life itself, or maybe it’s because I find the cosmos so romantic, or maybe it’s because I see poetry in the stars. Whatever the case, I felt all three of these in Illuminae.

And then some.

Here’s…

Amy’s Stacking the Shelves – BEA Edition

Amy’s Stacking the Shelves – BEA Edition

Posted by on 06/14/2015 • 11 Comments

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books we got this week

Hello loves!! It’s been forever since I’ve done one of these. I really like to do videos and I like to do them outside, so during the winter I got lazy with it. This one is a special one since it’s my BEA book haul!! I am not going to list the books with links since it will take up a lot of space. And a lot of linking lol! I will post a pic of the books though, and I have a vlog that is ridiculously long. I don’t really expect anyone to watch it, but I wanted to make it. Anyways, on with it I guess.

Continue Reading »

Review: Normal by Graeme Cameron

Review: Normal by Graeme Cameron

Posted by on 06/11/2015 • 14 Comments

A book about a serial killer in the eyes of the serial killer… I know what you’re thinking: the morbidness! The fascinating concept! The potential to show us what it is like on the other side of the fence! The opportunity to give us such a gritty, different, and complex story!

… which boggles the mind: how the hell did this one manage to bore me the frack out?!

Here’s the thing, ladies and gents: when we’re reading a perspective from the other person when it comes to controversial issues, I expect it to be… well, deep, because they shove us an extremely unlikeable person who does extremely unlikeable (read: detestable) things so they can humanize them to a certain extent in order to make us “see” where they are coming…