“The Earth, My Butt & Other Round Things” is really a work of pure genius. Carolyn Mackler has really put a lot of thought into this story. It deals with issues like body image, self-respect and how to find your identity. It helps us understand how to cope when things go wrong, when someone you really respect and think highly of isn’t actually that saintly, when parents try to keep that “perfect family” image even when the truth is far from that. It is all told through a protagonist, Virginia Shreeves, who has a larger-than-average body type and dying self-esteem. It is quite a delightful read and I recommend everyone to read it.
Feeling-good-about-myself-ly yours,
Kira :)

Virginia thinks the world of everyone but herself…………

Virginia Shreves has a larger-than-average body and a plus-size inferiority complex. She lives on the Web, snarfs junk food, and obeys the "Fat Girl Code of Conduct." Her best friend and stuttering soul mate, Shannon, has moved to Walla Walla, Washington. Froggy Welsh the Fourth has succeeded in getting his hand up Virginia's shirt, but she lives in fear that hell look underneath.
Then there are the other Shreves. Mom is an exercise fiend and a successful adolescent psychologist. Dad, when not jet-setting, or golfing in Connecticut, ogles skinny women on TV. Older siblings Anais and Byron are slim, brilliant, and impossible to live up to. Delete Virginia, and the Shreves are a picture-perfect family. . . until a phone call changes everything.

I finally read Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty. I don’t know – maybe it was the hype that built up after I went through the “Kaavya Vishwanathan Plagiarism Scandal” or that it really didn’t suit my taste – I didn’t like it as much as I expected I would. I thought that maybe Jessica’s attitude took time and that in a few more chapters it would grow on me – it didn’t. Her bad attitude (she is sarcastic, cynical, pessimistic, fatalistic, and could sometimes be a bitch) just cranked my mood further (I wasn’t feeling very jolly and so I turned to this book for solace), to be honest. I only read through to the end so that I could find what other readers could, what made this book famous. In my eyes, the only reason you hear its name often would forever be due to Ms. Vishwanathan’s hideous attempt to pass other author’s work as her own, including Ms. McCafferty’s. It has been a thorough disappointment, whether due to its lack of the real spirit of a YA novel or maybe due to my sour mood which got worse as I finished this book. All I have to say is, it might take months for someone to convince me to actually read the following parts of this series.
Unhappily (for the very first time),
Kira

“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.”

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment–from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again.

Wow. What. A. Book. It was kind of life-changing. Well, figuratively speaking, that is. It's a simple story of a boy who unexpectedly falls in love with a girl who's diagnosed with leukemia. The protagonist, Landon Carter, tells us the story from his point of view and does the time travel thingy - you know, tells us of the past incidents. He is an average guy with no special qualities and he's known Jaime Sullivan - the daughter of the reverend - for a long time. But due to the normal 'cliques' tendency, he never talks to her and just considers her a weird girl who wears the same brown sweater everyday and keeps her bible with her always. Everything changes when he becomes the school president, takes her to a school dance and takes up drama and he gets to know her. He walks her back to her house and she asks him to do the lead role in the play. After the play, he wonders how he could fall for her, but by then, she was all he could think of. When he confesses that he loves her for the first time, she tells him that she has leukemia. His whole world seems to fall apart but she gives him hope and confesses that she loves him too. She says the only way she was able to hold up so long was because of him. He spends more time with her, but feels like there was more he could do. Then he realizes that he must fulfill her wish - to get married in a church full of people and for her father to walk her down the aisle. On the day of the wedding, the church was bustling with people and her father says that he can share the happiness his daughter gave to him with another person too. The story ends with Landon, who is 57 years old, ending the story by telling us that he still wears his wedding ring and saying the miracles do happen. 

The whole story is a complete package of some humorous lines coupled with the confusion inside the narrator's mind. The change in the narrator can be sensed by the reader. Also, the background of the story - the school with cliques, peer-pressure, etc. - is also something we all can easily relate to. It leaves a great impact on the us and left me teary-eyed. I would give it 4 hearts. A lovely book all in all and recommended to all romance-lovers. :) 
Love,
Dawn ^_^

This is a compelling, if disturbing, story of the protagonist, Betty's struggles to escape the captivity of an increasingly violent and tyrannical man. Her husband, Dr. Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody 'Moody', brought her and their daughter Mahtob to his homeland Iran for a "two-week" vacation, at the end of which he turned Betty's worst fears into reality - they were here to stay. In a land of viscious men, and where women were no more than slaves, Betty cannot imagine a future and starts to arrange an escape. But all those plans meant seperating her from her daughter forever..
This extraordinary, heart-wrenching story takes us through one womans suffering in the war-infused, patriarchial society of Iran, and her treacherous journey to freedom. It narrates of one person's fortitude, courage and revives our faith in the human spirit.
It shook me to the core and touched my heart. I'm sure all of you would enjoy too. :)
With love,
Kira

'You are here for the rest of your life. Do you understand? You are not leaving Iran. You are here until you die.'

Betty Mahmoody and her husband, Dr Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody ('Moody'), came to Iran from the USA to meet Moody's family. With them was their four-year-old daughter, Mahtob. Appalled by the squalor of their living conditions, horrified by what she saw of a country where women are merely chattels and Westerners are despised, Betty soon became desperate to return to the States. But Moody, and his often vicious family, had other plans. Mother and daughter became prisoners of an alien culture, hostages of man of unstable sanity.

Betty began to try to arrange an escape. Evading Moody's sinister spy network, she secretly met sympathisers opposed to Khomeini's savage regime. But every scheme that was suggested to her meant leaving Mahtob behind for ever...

Eventually, Betty was given the name of a man who would plan their prilous route out of Iran, a hourney that few women or children had ever made. Their nightmare attempt to return home begins in a bewildering snowstorm..

At 3 a.m. today i finished reading this book - yes, i was up all night reading it! It was quite an enthralling read from page 1. The story is from the point of view of Opal, an NRI living in USA. She has always planned on going to Harvard and has built her life around it. She practically breathes, eats, sleeps Harvard. But when her early admissions interview goes horribly wrong (on account of being all academic, ONLY), she plans to reform her life so that when she applies for the reglar action, nothing can get in her way. Although it gets a bit slow in the near-end when - *spoiler alert* - her plan fails, it's still amusing. I love Kali's character although it's rarely mentioned and how eccentric opal's parents are and how they are plan everything out and stuff. And i'd have given it a 4-star if it weren't for the fact that most of it is chiseled off from other prominent authors' books (check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaavya_Viswanathan for the controversy), it hurts but it did me one good - thanks to Ms. Vishwanathan, I now know what books to read next ;)
so till nxt tym,
ciao mon amis,
kira

When Opal Mehta was six years old her parents moved from India to New Jersey so that they could get their child a place at the finest learning institution in the world: Harvard University. To achieve this goal, the Mehtas carefully and thoroughly constructed HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard). Opal's life so far has strictly adhered to this plan - cello lessons at age 6, foreign languages at 7, mechanical engineering classes, horticulture and mosaic art classes after that. Now, armed with a sterling set of academic and extra-curricular credentials, Opal has applied to Harvard. Failure is not an option. But the first question the admissions officer asks her is 'What do you like to do for fun?' She is stumped. Studying and hard work are all she's ever known. Boys hold no appeal (well, perhaps Sean Whalen, but he thinks she's a nerd.) But when she tells her parents, they simply take it all in their stride. 'There is no problem too big for us Mehtas,' declares her father. And so HOWGAL - How Opal Will Get A Life - springs into action, with hilarious results.

I just finished reading Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella and all I’ve got to say is – it was worth my time.
    It was a pleasant read from start to end and I simply loved Emma’s character. She’s your normal 20 something with heapfuls of secrets! I can’t stop laughing at her over-reactive imagination, always thinking about the worst or how she can’t stop blabbering when she’s nervous, how she deals with the everyday stresses of her life, how she copes with colleagues, friends and family.
    What I didn’t like was that Jack’s character was shadily and at times it gets annoying because, even as a reader, you wish to know about him but you never really do right to the very end. In fact, other than Emma’s, all characters have been deprived of the proper attention and detailing that they deserve.
    Sophie Kinsella has perfectly themed the story, but the execution was a little weak according to me. I would suggest this book only to avid readers seeking out to pass a little time, not to those just starting to read or those looking for a five star entertainer. But yes, for those of you who appreciate Ms. Kinsella’s writing and are looking for a light, good-humored read, this is the book for you.
I rate it 3 hearts :)
luv,
Kira

Hi guys! please bear with us for a few more days. The reviews will be up soon.
Love,
Dawn & Kira