Transitive Verve

This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: ** (It was okay) Summary:  Noelle lives in a world where the written word is obsolete - everyone is connected to a information network called Verity that is equally responsible for educating people as it is for monitoring them. The night before she is to undergo the societally-mandated brainwashing ritual, there is a glitch in the system, and her family discovers what she's been hiding her whole life - she inexplicably has the ability to read. Now she's on the run from the government, with an underground group of rebels... Thoughts:  Okay, so, that's about as far as I got, since I didn't finish the book. The premise is amazing ( Fahrenheit 451  is one of my favorite books, remember?), but there was something about the execution of it that just didn't work out well for me - I was either confused and struggling to picture what was going on, or I ju...

This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: * (I didn't like it) I was a huge fan of Saved by the Bell  when I was a kid, and I watched it religiously, like many others my age. I thought Zack was so handsome, and Jessie was so smart, and Lisa was so cool. Even though I have a different perspective on the show now that I'm older (and I'm also a high school teacher), I still have soft spot for it in my heart. So when I saw this modernization of SBTB in comic form, it really piqued my curiosity. How would  our favorite Bayside High supergroup fare in the 21st century? How would things be different? Would Jessie be an advocate for more social issues than just her stereotypical brand of feminism? Would Lisa have a fashion blog? Would a nerd like Screech be actually... COOL? Well... this book offered some  answers, though they weren't as satisfying as I had hoped. In fact, I only got through 50% of ...

This copy was provided for free from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thoughts at a glance: ** (It was okay) Technically, I did not finish. But I did get over 3/4 of the way through. Maybe I will at some point pick this up again, but for now... it was okay (as my rating says). It wasn't bad, and I liked it okay. Bianca is a first-year student at Miss Mabel's School for Girls, a school of magic for girls to become witches. A long time ago, Miss Mabel had placed a curse on her grandmother, and it has been passed on to her, and Bianca may die if Miss Mabel doesn't remove the curse. I like how, at least so far, it's an all-female cast of characters. It's been a while since I've read something like that, where the story does not revolve around men/boys or romantic interests. I also liked how so much of the novel so far reminded me of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . There's a competition for the top spot at the school, and only...

This copy was provided for free from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thoughts at a glance: * (I didn't like it) Three chapters. That's all I got through before I'd decided that I'd had enough. The book blurb says "Lauren Saft masterfully conveys what goes on in the mind of a teenage girl," but they forgot to specify that they were talking about privileged white girls who attend private school. I'm sure there are actual teenage girls like Alex, Mollie, and Veronica, but I sure haven't come across them where I teach. (Or even at the all-girls' school that I attended.) Here's the thing: I have no doubt that teen girls dabble in sex and drinking and that they constantly throw around f-bombs. I'm not shocked by any of that, nor do I judge them on it - I am a high school teacher after all. So I'm not bothered by the "raw, honest" discussions that the three main girls have, either with each other or as a...