Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Book Review - "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

Publisher - Scholastic Press
Release Date - May 24, 2011
Number of Pages - 390
Source - Bought

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program--or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan--or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.




I purchased this book because of the amazingness of "A Great and Terrible Beauty" and the wonderful concept. I used to be obsessed with pageants when I wa s younger, so I knew that I need to pick this up. Overall, "Beauty Queens" was like an amazing trip with a few bumps in the road.

First of all, the story idea is original and fun! The plot is interesting in most places, but slow and boring in a moment or two. The characters definitely rule the book! They are all different, and they blend in with each other. As the story goes on, we find out more things about them and also their back story, which I thought was awesome!


Libba's writing style in this book was very satiric, which made reading even more fun. But the best part of this book is the format. There are not only the regular story chapters, but also commercial breaks, footnotes, confidential chapters, words from sponsors and profile pages! That has really made the book a great experience.

This book explores some really taboo issues and has a lot of girl power. It also felt like an episode of CSI sometimes.

However, this book has had a bunch of slow and boring moments, and towards the end, the footnotes were starting to get annoying.


Overall, this is a great summery book and I definitely recommend, despite these small downfalls.
Rating: A-



 

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Teaser Tuesday! August 30, 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My teaser:
 I look away from him and toward the city. I have to focus. I climbed up here for a reason.
                                          - "Divergent" by Veronica 
                                                       Roth. Page 145
I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Happy Reading

Sunday, August 14, 2011

In My Mailbox #9

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren.

Lots of books recently!Can't wait to show you.

"Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson










"Fade" by Lisa McMann










"Hannah" by Kathryn Lasky










What have you got in you mailbox?

Happy Reading!