The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper follows two girsl, Willa and Paxton living in a small town of Walls of Water, North Carolina. Both girls grew up in town, Willa was the class joker (although she hid it until the very end) and Paxton was miss popularity. Willa's family was once part of the town's elite, however in her grandmother's day they moved out and she was working as a maid in her friends homes. Paxton is living in her parents house doing the social butterfly stuff her mom always wanted and restoring the Blue Ridge Madam, the Jackson family home. Willa owns a small store in town and is trying to fit her life into the box that she thinks her family would find appropriate. Neither woman is happy, then a body is unearthed at the Blue Ridge Madam and both girls find a way to break out of the shell's they are in and about their families pasts.

Just like other books by Sarah Addison Allen you get two watch two wonderful characters fall in love an come into their own. Actually three this time because Paxton's brother Colin also figures himself out.

I really liked getting to see Paxton and Waverly develop a friendship. I also liked hearing Paxton's grandmother tell them the story of her and Georgie's past. She did a good job with it. Sometimes when people tell and don't show in books it can get boring but I found the story just as captivating. (Although I did appreciate getting to be shown it too.)

There was less magic in this book then in previous books. There was also just something about the ambiance of this book that was a little different. The magic floating around was less helpful and a little bit more malicious.

I am something of a geek and I was super excited to see Claire Waverly from Garden Spells make an appearance. Just like every other book by Sarah Addison Allen, I thoroughly enjoyed it and found myself charmed by the characters and locale.

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Okay so it wasn't until I was like a quarter of the way through the book that I realized that this is JUST LIKE TRUE BLOOD. Mind reader meets vampire and they fall in love. Well Meena can't read minds, just tell you when you're going to die. She works for a soap opera as a dialogue writer and she's having a very bad week. She was passed over for a promotion and the prince of darkness is in love with her and she with him, wreaking all kinds of havok in her life.

Short chapters usually mean that pacing will be quick but honestly this book just felt like it dragged a little bit. I may have liked it better if it had been a little bit pared down. It felt like it took way too long for Meena and Lucien to meet and then it took way too long for them to find out each others secrets.

The characters were mostly all likable (except for Meena's brother Jon he was kind of a pain in the butt and I frequently found myself wanting to strangle him.) There were also some minor characters I would have liked to have gotten to know a little bit better. But it was mostly fun and I laughed a lot because of how over the top things got (Is everyone I know a vampire?) I also really like Lucien and Meena. Meena isn't passive about her powers, she makes it a point to try and help people once she has seen their future, even if (Although sometimes Meena spent a little too much time going on about things...this would have been a good thing to pare down, I'm just sayin'.) Alaric Wulf was sometimes likable and other times I just loathed him. He ran the gamut from complete jerk to kind. I find myself wondering if there is going to be sequel because it was left very open, particularly in the love triangle department.

There was one thing I was a little bit confused about(I'm going to try and be vauge cause I don't want to cause a spoiler). Knowing who Lucien is descended from and due to several brief mentions of a great grandmother named Wilhemina Harker I find myself wondering if all of these characters are supposed to be direct descendents of the characters from their Dracula counterparts or if the writer was just doing an homage.

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cinderella has left her Stepmothers house to give live in the castle until the wedding and she's having trouble fitting it. She also never gets to speak to the Prince alone so she's having trouble connecting with him. The only people she's getting along with are her tutor Jed and Mary a servant. At the castle women are considered too delicate for everything, and for a girl like Cinderella who took her fate into her hands it's just against her nature.

I really wanted to like this. I love tales that are based on or twist fairy tales and Margaret Peterson Haddix is such a prolific teen author, but alot of the time I just felt frustrated when I read it. To me a lot of the characters felt like one demensional stereotypes, like they were never fully fleshed out. None of the characters ever did anything surprising, I could figure out what was going to happen based on their archetype.

***Spoiler***
I was also a little bothered by the ending. If Jed continues working for the Charmings, how are him and Ella supposed to end up together. I understand that it's important to stop the war; and a big part of the theme of the book was taking responsibility and doing something to change your situation not just being impassive but if felt like the author was setting up an impossible road block for them.
***End Spoiler***

However it wasn't all bad, I did like the way the Charmings chose to handle Cinderella's disapearance. I thought it was funny and I do hope that everyone involved got what they deserve out of the relationship.

Suzi Clue: The Prom Queen Curse by Michelle Kehm

I just couldn't get into this one. I really wanted to enjoy it cause the cover was cute and the premise was adorable; plus a friend of mine read it and really seemed to enjoy it.

Suzie Clue is kind of an alternative type chick and doesn't really fit in at school. The BG's rule the school and all of the prom queen nominations come from their ranks. When someone starts harrassing prom queens and playing mean pranks, rumors of a prom queen curse start circling the school. Suzi loves mysteries so she decided to investigate.

But the whole thing felt forced and completely unrealistic. Adults would never let things go as far as they did in the book, both with Suzi's investigations and with the actual pranks played. Now adults would intervene and have handle things quickly.

If an unrealistic investigative process and the lack of adult interference wont bother you there are some important themes about being yourself and being compassionate worth exploring here. There is a lot to think about regarding some of the decisions Suzie makes; particularly regarding the culprit (I am trying not to give a spoiler here so forgive me for being vague.)

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy

Jess Parker has moved around from high school to high school and town to town her entire life. Now settled down in her mother's hometown for good she is having a hard time fitting in after having been an outsider for so long, until she is invited to join a secret society called The Cinderella Society. Now she is involved in a fued between the Cindy's and the Wicked's and she's not sure she isn't in over her head.

There is so much more going on in this book then meets the eye, and I don't just mean plot wise. This book is probably one of the greatest girl power, to thine own self be true type books I have ever read, without being preachy about it. I felt very girl power reading it and using a left over flyer from the local roller derby team, the Long Island Roller Rebels. The Cinderella Society is all about learning to be yourself, how to be comfortable in your own skin and knowing your strenghts and weaknesses. They call all this a makeover but truthfully I almost felt like it was misnamed because it's not about changing yourself but being your best you if that makes sense.

The Cindy's are all about balance and everyone getting their fair say, while thier counterparts, the Wickeds are all about gaining power over others. Evverything doesn't fall right into place once Jess enters the secret society; she continues to make mistakes and grow and spends a lot of time thinking about how to handle things when her opinions differ from the Cindy's. All in all I really enjoyed it and hate that I need to wait until next summer to find out what happens next. I do have one little gripe though; the author put a ton of pop culture references in the text such as current movies and music. While right now this isn't an issue, I think the book is good enough to stay popular for a long time, but the cultural references may date the book and turn kids off later. I hope I am wrong though cause it is a really great read.

Naughty List by Suzanne Young

The cheerleaders at Washington High School are more then just cheerleaders. They are an elite team of spies who have their own detective agency the Society of Smitten Kittens. SOS checks out guys for girls who are afraid they are being cheated on, and if the guys a cheater he gets his very own spot on the Naughty List. When Tessa the captain of the squad and head of SOS gets a text annonymously accusing her boyfriend Aiden of cheating, her perfect life starts to show some cracks.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I should have because it was so much more then I expected it be (I know this sounds weird but I will explain). I loved the premise and I thought it was such a cute idea and that it would be a light fluffy read, which is what I was looking for when I started it. But as I read the book I realized that this was not going to be a piece of light fluff, there was some serious character development and mental issues at play here. Which normally I would love because there is nothing better then finding out something is better then you expected but you know how sometimes you just want something that is a quick and dirty fun read? That's what I was in the mood for.

While the spying story is a little incredulous and definitely has some fun aspects to it, what was really interesting in this book and what I wasn't expecting was getting to watch Tessa develop. Tessa has been trying to be perfect and in this book you see the beginning of her desire to become a well developed person. Unfortunately because it's a series (or at least has a sequel) the development doesn't fully flesh out before the story ends. I hope this trend continues in the next book in the series.