Just A Little Red

Confessions Of A Bookaholic: Guilty Pleasure Edition #5 – Sweet Valley High Books 9-13

Posted on April 14, 2014 by DMW

I hope you are ready to get your Wakefield on. The books in this post is the strongest list in of Sweet Valley High books so far with the first five out of five rating (and there are two of them on this list!) and no misses. Remember that because of the nature of this series, this blog does contain spoilers. While I don’t delve into too much detail, you will at least get the ‘what’ and depending on the book sometimes the ‘who’ and ‘why’. (I try my best to always leave out the ‘how’.) So, if you intend to read these books yourself, read this blog at your own risk. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this group of books because just like yesterday’s Fear Street edition, the series really hits its stride with these! 🙂

“Racing Hearts”
svh_racing_hearts_edit
Sweet Valley Scale: 4.5 out of 5 Twins
Pick Of The Bunch Rating: Fourth Place

Roger Barrett has always had a hopeless crush on rich, snobby Lila Fowler, but the only attention Lila ever gives Roger is to make fun of him. And why not? Roger is clumsy, shy and secretly works as a janitor after school. When Roger wins the qualifying heat for a big race, however, he becomes a school celebrity overnight. To his surprise even Lila begins so show interest in him. But Roger knows that if he participates in the race finals, he’ll lose his job. Will Lila still notice him when he is no longer a star?

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Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Guilty Pleasures, Reviews | Tagged "book reviews", "reading list", "sweet valley high", guilty pleasure, reading, sweet valley | 4 Comments

Confessions Of A Bookaholic: Guilty Pleasure Edition #4 – Fear Street Books 9-13

Posted on April 13, 2014 by DMW

R.L. Stine hits his stride with this next group of Fear Street books. It is a list of complete wins, hits and includes Fear Street’s first Super Chiller, which lives up to its name. The hardest part about this book list was figuring out their reading ranking because in all honesty three books pretty much tie for first place and the other two for second place. This was a great stretch for the early Fear Street series.

“The Stepsister”

Fear Street Scale: 5 out of 5 Fears
Pick Of The Bunch Rating: Third Place

Emily wants to like her new stepsister, but Jessie doesn’t make it easy. As soon as Jessie moves in, she takes over Emily’s room, wearing Emily’s clothes and making secret late-night phone calls from her phone. No one believes Emily when she complains to her parents. Then horrible things begin to happen and Emily is living in fear of Jessie, which is made worse when she picks up Jessie’s diary and discovers a horrible secret from Jessie’s past. Did Jessie really murder someone? Soon it becomes clear that Emily’s life is on the line. Emily must find out Jessie’s dark secret; her life depends on it!

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Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Guilty Pleasures, Reviews | Tagged "book reviews", "reading list", book, fear street, guilty pleasure, mystery, reading, suspense, Thriller | 1 Comment

My Freaky Memory: A Case Study

Posted on April 10, 2014 by DMW

Do you remember what you did yesterday? Two weeks ago? Last month, to the day? How about last year or five years ago? Ten years ago? Yesterday at this time I was getting ready to go to the library while my husband was on a conference call. Two weeks ago, I was up in arms over the little girl who was suspended by her elementary school because she shaved her head to support her friend with cancer. Last month, I was at Caribou Coffee, reviewing books I have read and books that I want to read to figure out ‘Confessions Of A Bookaholic’ Noteworthy Fiction and Nonfiction lists through June. I had a mocha with hazelnut and two doughnut minimuffins on hand, though I saved the second one for my husband. Five years ago, I was working through a novel (that I lost last year in the great data crisis) getting the first twenty pages to be workshopped for what would be my final residency in my MFA program. I was in bed, trying to tune Joe out, who was in the corner on his computer – he refused to give me my alone time when I worked (well… ever really). Ten years ago, I was going over my dorm programs to make sure I had completed all of my RA requirements, while working out a program Ronnie (a fellow RA) owed me because I took her shift on Valentine’s Day that same year, which was a Saturday night (also was my first big alcohol bust, but that is a story for another time).

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Posted in Family, Health, Life, Personal, Relationships | Tagged “good memory”, “living in the past”, “living in the present”, forgetting, Hyperthymesia, memories, memory, Recall, seizure, stroke, unforgettable | Leave a comment

There Is No Such Thing As A Plot-Driven Story

Posted on April 8, 2014 by DMW

I know that there are a lot of people who are going to disagree with me, but I don’t believe there is such a thing as a ‘true plot-driven’ story, at least not one that works. Sure, there are some stories where the plot is much more significant than it is in other stories and even stories where the plot matters just as much as the characters do, but I am stating that the plot will never be more significant than the characters in any story. Characters are the connection, for both readers and writers alike, when it comes to any kind of storytelling.

This is not what I have been taught in college or in graduate school and I think a lot of my peers will think something along the lines of ‘what the hell is Michael talking about?’ but I have spent a great deal of time searching for a true, plot-driven story and anything I come up with, I connect back to its characters (if it worked in the first place). For example, the ‘alien invasion’ is a common story that is considered to be plot-driven. I agree that the plot in these kinds of books is much more significant than a coming-of-age novel. That being said, if I don’t have a character to love, hate or otherwise connect to, I lose interest.

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Posted in Publishing, Writers, Writing | Tagged "character development", "writing process", book, Books, character, character-driven, fiction, plot, plot-driven, story, storytelling | Leave a comment

Confessions Of A Bookaholic: Guilty Pleasure Edition #3 – Sweet Valley High Books 4-8

Posted on April 7, 2014 by DMW

Are you ready to delve more into the lives of the beautiful Wakefield twins? The five books in this post either are hits or misses but at least they even out. A word of ‘spoiler’ caution: There are going to be a few spoilers in each review blurb. No real details, but this is a true old-school book series that is like a soap opera. Every book feeds into the next as one giant continuation. When I wrote this, I realized the back of the books usually only covered the first quarter of the book, enough to get readers in the 1980s interested enough to pick it up, but not a true summation of what all happened. So if a book is about two girls fighting over a boy, you will likely find out who wins and lands her man by the end of my blurb – but you won’t have the antics of the journey spoiled for you. 🙂 If you plan to read these books though and want zero spoilers, as much as it pains me to say this, you may want to skip any Sweet Valley blog I write. I don’t want anyone to be angry about plot spoilers (and I am one to get frustrated about such things when it comes to books on my reading list, so I get it). Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy the mayhem in the books on this list!

“Power Play”

Sweet Valley Scale: 4.5 out of 5 Twins
Pick Of The Bunch Rating: First Place

Robin Wilson has been following Jessica around for months, trying to be her friend. Now she wants to pledge Pi Beta Alpha, Sweet Valley High’s exclusive sorority. When Elizabeth nominates Robin for the sorority, Jessica is furious. Even though Robin is friendly and smart, she is also chubby and not ‘popular enough’. Jessica is determined to keep Robin out, but Elizabeth is just as determined to make Robin a sorority sister. It’s twin versus twin in the biggest power play of Sweet Valley High.

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