false 23 465 220 true 5656575 read 1 true 3518941 currently-reading 104 true 3518940 to-read 117 true 4101993 not-at-my-library 23 true 3662677 abandoned 22 false 3881943 christian-romance 18 false 4196487 audiobooks-completed 18 false 3684827 own 10 false 3558278 cookbooks-read 8 false 3548744 craft-books-read 4 false 5407215 middle-school 1 false 5571977 1001-books 1 false 4196648 audiobooks-at-library 1 false 5620033 ya <![CDATA[Dani is on page 63 of Sue Barton, Rural Nu... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74911087 Dani is on page 63 of Sue Barton, Rural Nurse ]]> <![CDATA[Dani is on page 48 of Sue Barton, Rural Nu... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74911087 Dani is on page 48 of Sue Barton, Rural Nurse

Dani "And the melodrama rolls on." ]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'Sue Barton, Rural Nurse']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74911087 Sue Barton, Rural Nurse (Hardcover) by Helen Dore Boylston
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'Soulless']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78079590 Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger
bookshelves: not-at-my-library
]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'Ad Hoc at Home']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77784869 Ad Hoc at Home (Hardcover) by Thomas Keller
bookshelves: not-at-my-library
]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77202798 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition (Hardcover) by Dee Brown
bookshelves: not-at-my-library
]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74763311 The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling (Yada Yada Series) by Neta Jackson
This installment of the Yada Yada Prayer Group series deals with death, jail, fires, volunteerism, and how to make the best use of God's blessings. There was one twist in the storyline that made me tear up a little, but for the most part I read this because of my strange need to complete series. So much has happened to these characters that I can't imagine what would be left for the seventh book. ]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76821303 Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives (Hardcover) by David M. Eagleman
bookshelves: not-at-my-library
]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'Where Do I Go?']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76816106 Where Do I Go? (Yada Yada House of Hope) by Neta Jackson
bookshelves: to-read
]]> <![CDATA[Dani added 'The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/37190533 to: The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey (Paperback) by Lisa Papademetriou
I checked this out of the library for myself, but my 12-year-old daughter got to it first. She devoured it in two days and proclaimed that I had to read it. Her enthusiasm was the only thing that got me through this predictable book.

To be fair, the one-dimensional characters probably wouldn't be so predictable to a middle schooler who hasn't been exposed to as much television and film as I have. You have the nerdy girl and the rich airhead, the less handsome guy who turns out to be a better person than the buff hotties, and the wisecracking talking animal thrown in for comic relief. I knew before the end of the first chapter what lesson each girl needed to learn. This would be the perfect set-up for a Saturday night movie on Disney Channel, but in print it fell flat.

Not only was the book predictable but it also had an identity crisis. There were a couple dark secrets thrown in that didn't fit the otherwise light tone of the book -- not too dark for a 12-year-old to handle, but dark enough to make you wonder which direction the book is going in. If I had a choice, I would have gone with the more serious tone and get rid of the lame jokes that sound like they were cribbed from an episode of "Suite Life of Zack and Cody".

Bottom line: although many YA novels appeal to adults, this is not one of them. Save it for your kids. ]]>