Posts By: Amy

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Review: Macbeth #killingit by William Shakepeare 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: Macbeth #killingit by William Shakepeare and Courtney CarboneMacbeth #killingit by Courtney Carbone, William Shakepeare
Series: OMG Shakespeare
Published by Random House BFYR on January 5th 2016
Genres: Classics, Comedy, Retellings, YA
Source: Random House Children's Books
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three-half-stars

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

Imagine: What if that tragic couple, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!

A prophecy from three witches.
A social-climbing couple committing a murder most foul.
A cover-up that spins way out of control.

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

tl;dr A Shakespeare play told through its characters texting with emojis, posting photos, checking in at 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.

I know that I have already review a few of these books, well actually all of them so far, and they are getting harder to review. I can only say how fun they are so many times. Macbeth is one of stories that I really enjoyed reading back in the day when I was in school, so I really liked getting to read it in this format. What’s even better is that the Macbeth movie comes out Friday. Yup, that’s right, December 4th and it looks pretty good. I can’t wait to see it. So, if you haven’t read Macbeth, you should check out the movie, then pick up this book when it comes out in January to see how entertaining reading in this format makes a dark story.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Macbeth, it’s a story about power. Macbeth who starts off seemingly a pretty decent person is swayed by the idea of power. That and his crazy wife. His guilt doesn’t stop him though. He will do anything he has to, murder anyone he has to in order to be King and stay that way. Of course, the rightful son to the throne won’t just sit forever. Revenge will always find its way.

Emoji’s, group texts, and especially photo posts made this really great. It’s such a horrific story that it really helps to have the humor. One of my favorite parts was a quiz that Macbeth posted. We all know how all those FB quizzes always get you right? So anyways, after reading this I am more excited to see the movie (you can check out the flixter page for it here) and to read the real Macbeth again. That’s about all I can really say. I feel that this was a really short review, but the point is, it’s a short fun and quick read. I would hate for my review to end up longer than the book itself.

three-half-stars

3.5 Hot Espressos

Review: A Midsummer Night #nofilter by William Shakespeare and Brett Wright

Posted by on 11/25/2015 • 1 Comment

Every time I have read one of these books I can’t help but smile. They are great fun!! I have actually never read A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I have read little bits, but never the whole thing. Of course, I knew what the story was about, but reading it in this way made it so much fun. Once again, I have to say that these books are amazing because they make learning about these stories entertaining, and in my case, want to read the real thing.

Text and social media are such prominent things today that this is such a great way to write a book. Especially books that some may find boring otherwise. Or have trouble understanding the language since we all know that Shakespeare can be a…

Review: Consent by Nancy Ohlin

Posted by on 11/18/2015 • 4 Comments

This book was a bit tough for me. It was a good book, and I knew what it was about going into it, but reading it made me feel a bit icky at times. I liked the MC and her best friend was pretty good too, but Dane just gave me the creeps. I thought that it was a well done story though, and of course it isn’t unheard of to have student/teacher relationships. Besides the relationship aspect though, it really goes into family issues as well and I really liked that.

Bea is a senior in high school and thinking about her future. She has a super smart best friend and she has these grand plans for Harvard. It’s not an unlikely dream either. They are both smart, and…

Review: Calvin by Martine Leavitt

Posted by on 11/13/2015 • 2 Comments

This book, though short packs quite a punch. It’s fun and quirky, but also serious as well. It follows Calvin who has schizophrenia on an extremely dangerous adventure. I enjoy reading books about mental illness when they are told in the POV of the person who has it. It is a scary and sad thing to know what they are going through, but my curious mind is always interested. I work in a field that deals with mental illness, so I am no stranger to it, but I am fascinated with how the brain works and I really do love books like this.

Calvin was a really great character in so many ways. He is smart, funny, and determined. Yes, he may have schizophrenia, but that is just one…

Review: Captive by A.J. Grainger

Posted by on 11/12/2015 • 4 Comments

I always find it hard to review books that I have no strong opinion of either way. I didn’t really like this book, but I didn’t dislike it either. It was readable, but it didn’t make me NEED to keep going. The main character wasn’t all that interesting, but I did kind of like her… sometimes. As you can tell by the title and synopsis, this book is about a girl who is kidnapped because she is the Prime Ministers daughter. She is the leverage to get what they want. So of course, she is being held captive and we learn about her history through her wandering thoughts. We also learn about the conspiracy that got her to this place by one of her kidnappers. The book opens pretty cool,…

Review: The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

Posted by on 11/10/2015 • 14 Comments

I adored this book! It wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down. I loved the main characters, but beyond that, I wanted so bad to learn their story. I was instantly drawn into this book and it was like I was there with them on their journey. It was great watching their romance form, and it was so heart breaking when they were going through awful things. I was very invested in them and where life would take them, and especially the past that had made each of them who they were.

Bex was an interesting character. She doesn’t have a whole lot of friends because people find her a bit weird. By weird, I mean morbid. She is fascinated by anatomy….

Review: We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

Posted by on 11/09/2015 • 4 Comments

I’m always up for a book that is creepy and messes with your head, and this sounded like it was perfect for that. Sadly, it really fell short for me. It’s supposed to be a mind fuck, but it was too predictable. It was supposed to be creepy, but it just wasn’t. I didn’t really like the main character much because she was kind of boring. Even though she is breaking all the rules and is out for murder, she just seemed a bit blah for me. And the love interest… there always has to be one of those right? He didn’t do much for me. He’s the one who is supposed to be all dangerous, but helpful, and really a sweetheart. Yeah, he met all those stereotypes on the…

Review: The House by Christina Lauren

Posted by on 10/29/2015 • 5 Comments

I do love a good creepy book so of course I wanted to read this. Right in time for Halloween, it was a spooky read. The characters were great and the story was really cool. Most importantly, House actually kind of scared me. The writing was fantastic at bringing you right into things. I was able to clearly imagine House and Table and other things moving about. It felt very magical at first, but then becomes scary and very unsettling.

Gavin is a boy who there are many rumors about. He lives in the “haunted house”, he doesn’t have parents, he’s weird, all sorts of stuff. He doesn’t have any friends, but it’s because he in fact does live alone. Well, not really alone, but he doesn’t have parents….