Diamond Estates: The Wishing Pearl & Giveaway

"Sixteen-Year-Old
Olivia Mansfield
Dreams of a Land
Far, Far Away..."

Bookworm's Ranking - 4.5 Worms

Storyline - Missing her father, terrified and hating her abusive step-father, and angry with her mother, Olivia dreams of when she can leave home to attend a prestigious music school. Because of her rotten life, she can't understand why she plays the good girl and begins to rebell with smoking, alcohol, and soon drugs. But when her best friend dies, she is left with a choice about her own life. Choosing to do something, she goes to Diamond Estates, a school for troubled teen girls, to change her life around. But things are just beginning for her and she is pretty sure she will not find God here. No matter that others are saying she will.

Author - Nicole O'Dell

Publisher - Barbour Publishing

Age Group - 15 or 16 and up

Content - Drinking and smoking (and a little pot) by Olivia and her friends before going to Diamond Estates. Olivia is close to her brother and makes an effort to communicate with him (he's deaf). She works hard to over come what has brought her down and is good to her friends, very supportive. Lots of intense issues that the girls are experiencing (abortions, anorexia, living on the streets, and more that are even more intense than these). They all search for God. He is very present within the school.

Personal Opinion - I believed this book and the characters so much. Even though I have never met anyone like these girls or lived in their situations, from what I hear about the world, their situations, choices, and feelings are not off at all. I thought Olivia got out of the cigarettes and alcohol too quickly for how long she had been in it before going to Diamond Estates but I think that is probably my biggest complaint. The romance story was well handled and the friendships that were made were awesome (I loved those girls and felt for them). As a side note, I loved how there were deaf characters in the book. I am partial to the language (by the way, the description of the signs were correct for the ones I knew, which was most) and think deaf culture needs to be represented in more in literature. As a sum up, wonderful book and talented author. But I still think that the guy running the program should not be the one setting the schedule for girls. Half hour to wake up and put on make up? I don't do make up and I still need more than half an hour. Just saying.

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Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from Team Novel Teen. Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction. Check out other posts about The Wishing Pearl by Nicole O’Dell by clicking on the links above, and check out www.NovelTeen.com for more information about Team Novel Teen.

Giveaway -

The CHAOS Trilogy: Invaision

"He Didn't Ask to be a Hero,
But Now All that Stands
Between Us and Chaos
... is Colt."

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - Colt is an average 16 year old with parents that love him and a hobby of surfing. Then an accident takes his parents away and changes everything. But, not everyone thinks it was an accident. When he moves to Arizona to live with his grandfather, Colt gets a call from a stranger claiming that his parents were murdered and that major company, which his mother was writing an article about, was responsible. Learning aliens exist and riding flying motorcycles isn't helping Colt's sanity but with the help of his friends, Oz and Danielle, he just might live through the assassination attempts. Maybe.

Author - Jon S. Lewis
Publisher - Thomas Nelson

Age Group - 14 and up

Content - Colt does what is right but he and his friends look to adults very minimally for help and usually do things themselves to take care of what is going on. When things started getting out of hand Colt did go to his Grandfather once but still tried to handle things himself. Oz is really laid back and can be rude. Danielle can and does hack into computers. Colt goes to a girl's room and she tells him something about her family but someone points out that it was inappropriate to go to her room, even though nothing happened or was even thought.

Personal Opinion - This was an enjoyable story but I like book 2 the best so far. Don't get me wrong, this book had lots of action, a well put together story and mystery, and diverse, interesting characters but something clicked for me in the second. I also thought there would be a bit more Christian elements to the story (went to church once and learned a christian song for a future service) but I appreciated that it was clean and how the situation with Colt going to a girl's room, even though nothing happened, was handled. I think more examples like this need to be in today's literature. Fun book and can't wait to read book 3. Almost want to read book 2 again to read it somewhat in order but I think I will be okay. :)

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Links - Learn more about the books and author here: http://chaosnovels.com/

Buy - Amazon

Special Notes - Alienation, book 2 Review

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How to Train Your Dragon: How to Break a Dragon's Heart

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - When Camicazi goes missing, warriors of Berk go searching with the Bog-Burglars. But are surrounded by Uglithugs who wants to know who has been sending love letters to the Chief's daughter. Hiccup discovers it was Fishlegs so, to protect him, he claims he did it and is sent on an impossible task that 11 others have gone on, have not come back. Fishlegs, not wanting to be a joke and to discover who is family is, goes on the task but gets captured. Will he and the others escape before being sacrificed by the Berserks? Will Hiccup find a way out? And will he finally overcome this one particular villain?

Author - Crassida Cowell

Publisher - Little, Brown and Company

Age Group - 13 or 14 and up

Content - Hiccup lies once to protect a friend and a second so a bad guy wont kill him. Hiccup hears a prophesy about himself and wonders if it could be true. He tries to help and protect others.

Personal Opinion - This was a good book for the How to Train Your Dragon Series. I think it let you in on more of the personal history of Hiccup and his family and a friend. I did find the prophesying of an old king about the future was a bit strange (and the witch) but I still found it the same good, tongue-in-cheek funny, lesson teaching story that the How to Train Your Dragon Series is. The reader got to be more personal with the characters than before, in my opinion, with this book. I look forward to the next adventure and what craziness will happen.

Links - Learn more about the books and author at: http://www.howtotrainyourdragonbooks.com/

Buy - Amazon

Special Notes - This is the eighth book in the series. How to Train Your Dragon Review. This review is done in an older style than more more recent reviews.

To read, comment, and rate this and other reviews, stop by http://bookwormreading.blogspot.com/

Giveaway WINNER!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and posted a comment on Replication. But, as you all know, I had a giveaway with that review and the winner is....





Wait for it.....




Wait for it......





Know you want to hit me if I don't just say it, right?






Okay, okay........................................................ Megan!

Congrats! I will be emailing you soon with details such as getting your address. Thanks and I hope to see you all again on Bookworm.

Dark Sea Annals: The Errant King

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - King Lochland is overwhelmed by the work of the kingdom of Myriad. So he goes out and lives among his people, taking up new trades to blend with the town's folk. But old and new enemies are rising up and causing destruction and heart ache wherever they go. Hinterlanders, who live on the other side of the mountains, have an old queen, known as the Red Queen, returns, worse now than she was before. Now part dragon, she rains fire on whoever rebels against her. Alistair and Telwyn go off looking for Cetheral when Abbageal's dreams are haunted by him. But a worst evil is coming from the Dark Sea. Can this evil be turned away? Will the Halfainin be found and be called forth?

Author - Wayne Thomas Batson

Publisher - Living Ink Press

Age Group - 15 and up

Content - Lochland, Telwyn, Ariana, and the rest of the group all defended and protected one another. They all are willing to make sacrifices for others. When a villain kills someone, another at first thinks they are having a 'romatic encounter'. A lot of "blood spurting" described.

Personal Opinion - Good but perhaps too many characters to follow. Don't get me wrong, the characters were great and diverse, and I enjoyed them very much. But, because of so many character, it seemed a little long. Besides that, the story lines were intriguing and new beings were introduced as well as characters I hope to see more of. The Hinterland people were so interesting and fun (they reminded me a bit of Hobbits). I am curious as to how some inhabitants of the land have fared after the terrible battles. The story was good and is leading up to more, dangerous adventures for the next books in the series. So many questions need to answered with the ending of this book.

Links - Learn more about the books and author at: http://enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com/

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Buy - Spearhead Books, Amazon,

Special Notes - Sword in the Stars Review

To read, comment, and rate this and other reviews, stop by http://bookwormreading.blogspot.com/