The Cinderella Society Vol 1 - Kay Cassidy

Title: The Cinderella Society
Author: Kay Cassidy
Format: E-Book
Rating: 1 Star

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When the Prom Queen becomes your fairy godmother…

Sixteen year old outsider, Jess Parker, gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join a secret society of popular girls dedicated to defeating the mean girls of the world. The Cinderella Society guides all new recruits through its top secret ultimate life makeover. It’s all part of preparing them to face down the Wickeds and win. Determined not to let the Cindys down, Jess dives in with a passion. Finally, a chance to belong and show the world what she’s made of.

… be careful what you wish for.

Jess’s transformation wins her the heart of her dream crush and a shot at uber-popularity. Until the Wickeds–led by Jess’s arch enemy–begin targeting innocent girls in their war against the Cindys, and Jess discovers the real force behind her exclusive society. It’s a high stakes battle of good vs. evil, and the Cindys in power need Jess on special assignment. When the mission threatens to destroy her dream life come true, Jess is forced to choose between living a fairy tale and honoring the Sisterhood… and herself.

What’s a girl to do when the glass slipper fits, but she doesn’t want to wear it anymore?

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The Cinderella Society definitely falls into the "Thank God I got this book for free" category.  I started reading it thinking it was going to be a cute yet fluffy read, and by the end, my eyes hurt from all the rolling.

The book stars with our main character - Jess - bemoaning the fact that she's not popular, has zero friends, and gets treated like crap by former cheerleader and nemesis Lexy.  Jess is the new girl at her school. When she moved there, she tried out for the cheerleading team - and SURPRISE - she is SO good that she displaces now former member Lexy and gets a spot on the team. 

I am certainly not saying that Lexy has any excuse to bully Jess - there's no good reason to bully someone.  BUT, I do understand why Lexy would be upset. 

Also, I find it hard to believe that in Jess's first try at a new school the cheerleader squad would be so happy to displace a veteran cheerleader for a new girl they know nothing about.  Next - I find it hard to believe that they would choose Jess to join their squad then ignore her the entire year, THEN, on the last day of school, decide to send her an invitation to join a secret society dedicated to eradicating bad in the world.

When Jess accepts the invitation and joins the Cinderella society, she falls into a hole of a world where she learns that:

*The Cinderella Society makes all the girls go through makeovers to discover their "signature style," because, as we all know, looks are the only thing that matter.
*Lexy is part of a counter group called The Wickeds - yes they actually have a secret society dedicated to bullying people. 
*Regular kids who don't fit with The Wickeds or The Cindy's are called Reggies, and the Cindy's entire mission is to put good out and save the reggies from the Wickeds.

Now, please don't misunderstand me - if people like to dress up and wear certain clothes, and do their makeup that is fantastic. More power to you!  I think it's important to wear clothes you are comfortable in that make you feel good. But I don't like the idea that these girls have to try and change each other. It just felt like that was *all* they cared about.  Their focus was too much on appearance and not enough on being a good person.

Another thing that was completely implausible to me was that the coffee shop they frequent is not only run by a world famous model, but also has a secret entrance at the back of the shop that leads downstairs to a large underground lair that nobody except the Cindy's know about.

Also, Jess, a shy rather timid young lady, towards the end of the book is picked to be the leader the following academic year due to her great leadership skills. However, the only thing I ever saw her do that would qualify as good leadership was standing up to Lexy when Lexy was bullying a "reggie."  That ONLY THING!  Jess does nothing else throughout the book that would suggest she is deserving of being in a leadership position yet. 

The writing was mediocre at best, and the characters were not well developed at all.  They were mostly stagnant through the entire story, and what little development did occur revolved around either trying to look prettier or be meaner to people. 

Overall, this is not a story I would recommend to anyone.  Save your time and skip it.

Bout of Books 26 - Wednesday Wrap Up

Hi reader friends!  Happy Thursday. I can't believe the week is almost over already.  The good thing is - BoB goes until Sunday, so we still have a few days of reading fun ahead.

Here is my wrap up for Wednesday.

Books Started: 3
Books Finished: 1
Pages Read Wednesday: 55
Total Pages Read: 258

Currently Reading: 

Finished Reading:

Bout of Books 26 - Tuesday Wrap Up

Happy Wednesday, reader friends. It's time for a little Tuesday wrap up for Bout of Books.

I actually finished a book yesterday!  YEAH!

So, yesterday's stats:

Books Started: 2
Books Finished: 1
Pages Read Tuesday: 183
Total Pages Read: 208

Finished:

Still Reading:

And Now For a Challenge:

Today's Challenge is: Recreate Your Favorite Book Cover

My favorite, favorite book is Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo.

Here is what the cover of my copy looks like:

Here's a cover redesign I think would totally fit with the book:

It's nothing fancy - but it's a little dark, slightly hopeful, and with an image of the French Revolution and the Elephant of Bastille, I think it works.

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How did you do with your reading on Tuesday?  What are you reading today? Talk to me in the comments below!

Bout of Books - Monday Wrap Up

Happy Tuesday!  Those of us doing Bout of Books 26 are deep into our second day of reading. 

So, I had the best intentions to read a ton of this book yesterday:

Here's how my day ACTUALLY went:

Books Started: 1
Books Finished: 0
Pages Read: 25

Anyway, I have higher hopes for today!  What are you all reading today/this week?

Bout of Books TBR

Hi reader friends!  Happy first day of Bout of Books.  

I wanted to share my TBR pile with y'all. It feel like it's pretty low key right now (but it might not actually be that low key...), but if I actually finish these all early enough in the week, I might pick up some more books from the library.  

 I didn't take pictures of this book yet, but I also hope to get through (or at least start):

*A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

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So, reader friends: Are you doing Bout of Books this week?  Let me know what you're reading in the comments below! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Characters I’d Love to Be Besties With

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday - a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!  This weeks theme is Book Characters I'd Love to be Besties with!

I am going to have so much fun with this weeks topic, y'all.

Let's just dive right in! Here we go:

1. Jean ValJean.  The dude rocks.  Sure, he went to prison for stealing a loaf of bread. But come on, it was BREAD, and he was hungry.  Also, look at everything he did for Cosette and Fantine.  He is just amazing.

2. Fred and George Weasley, because we could play all the pranks together, and they are hilarious.

3. Luna Lovegood.  A little spacey, sure, but fun, smart, and unique, as well as loyal and trustworthy.

4. Hermione Granger - because we'd have our own little book lovers thing going on! 

5. Kaz Brekker.  He's a bad ass.  I mean?!  I would want to be friends with him just because he is so dark and disturbing.

6. Inej Ghafa.  Do I really need to explain?  Because she's Inej!

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Which book characters would be on your besties list?! Let me know in the comments.

Red, White, and Royal Blue - Casey Mcquiston

Title: Red, White, and Royal Blue
Author: Casey McQuiston
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4.5 Stars

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What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius―his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic. 

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I picked up Red, White, and Royal Blue after hearing so much about it on blogs, booktube, and the twitter.  I was not disappointed.

I can't really think of anything I didn't like about this book.  The whole story was well developed and well plotted.  I liked the characters, the humor and candor between them, and the way each character played so well off each other.

This book is full of humor, heart, and love.  Henry, the stuffy prince of Wales, even brings his own moments of levity to his stuffy life as a prince and future king.  Alex, the son of the woman president (YEAH), is very over achieving, and despite his seriousness about becoming a future politician and his heavy drive to do nothing else, he is just great and funny!

Henry and Alex really felt good together.  They have similar personalities, and they mesh well because of it. I feel like it helps that they also are raised with a lot of expectations of what they will become, and they can bond over that because the know what they really want to become, and they (I think) both struggle with how to break free of expectations and do what they want.

Alex, his sister, and Nora all worked together well as well.  I could say this about all the characters in this book.  You could tell the three of them had a great relationship with each other, part of which I am sure came from having parents who are so much in the political spotlight.  There really weren't any characters that felt off or out of place.  They all had their own distinct personalities that meshed, and traits that worked with other characters traits.  Each character developed well, and grew as the story unfolded.

The whole story felt so well-developed and well written.  I admit I did question one moment where Alex was told he *had* to be friends with Henry in order to make up for his mishap in England, because I thought "Huh, would he really do that?"  Alex is pretty strong willed, but after I thought about it and really got into the book, I felt like it worked.  Everything in this book was just on par and wonderful.

Overall, this was a great book with lots of romance, lots of great friendship, and a wonderful well developed story.  One last thing that should be noted: This is NOT A YA book.  A lot of people have been confused about that, so I just wanted to add that.

Bout of Books 26

Bout of Books 26 is next week - August 19 through the 25th.

If you've never heard of Bout of Books, head over to their blog to learn more - and read this lovely little blurb:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, Twitter chats, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 26 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I am pretty excited for another Bout of Books!  

I haven't come up with a reading list yet, but stay tuned - I'll have one soon!

Dating Profile Friday - Clary Fray

Name: Clary Fray
Age: 18

Hobbies: Drawing, reading, eating pizza and playing games with my best friend Simon.

About Me: I love to draw, art is my passion.  I love learning new fighting tricks and using them to slay demons and downworlders.  If you are cool with a lady who knows how to fight, then I am the person for you.  I hang out a lot at the institute, and sometimes like to travel to other countries - especially the shadowhunters homeland. 

If you are interested in getting to know me better, I can be found commonly at coffee houses in Brooklyn, especially Java Jones.