Book Review: My Own Worst Frenemy by Kimberly Reid

My Own Worst Frenemy by Kimberly Reid

Publisher:Kensington Teen

Publish Date: August 30, 2011

Paperback, 256 pages 
Fiction, Young Adult
 ISBN: 978-0758267405
Langdon Prep #1

My Review:
I liked this book.  Chanti has quite a chip on her shoulder, but it's what I would expect.  Her mom's a vice cop and she can't tell anyone.  She lives on a street that is almost the bad part of town but not quite.  She seems to have lost her best friend and a new friend over the summer.  Her mom watches her like a hawk because of her job and cares who Chanti hangs out with and that is the reason that Chanti has ended up at Langdon Prep.  And at Langdon Prep it seems that the Headmistress has it out for her as well.  The only good thing in Chanti's life is fellow scholarship student Marco.

Chanti was smart but still the typical teenager.  She seems to have learned a lot from her mom.  I like that her mom is involved in her life even if they have to keep what her mom does secret because of the nature of being a vice cop.  I was intrigued by the mystery elements of the book and even though they really didn't pick up until half way through the book, the first half was still great with setting up the characters and learning the background.  I never felt bogged down like you sometimes do in first books in a series.  Ms. Reid was able to keep the book flowing from the information and getting-to-know the character stage to the trying to solve the mystery stage very well.

As I mentioned before Chanti still manages to be a typical teenager, she is caught up in liking Marco and it clouds her judgement.  Also picking friends clouds her judgment.  She doesn't always make the right decisions and sometimes there are consequences.  I also like that the pieces didn't fall into perfect place for her.  It did take some work and some effort and some help from others.  She drew from what she learned from her mom and help from others.  I'm not saying the mystery element was perfect, but it was a lot of fun for me.  There aren't a lot of contemporary non-paranormal mystery young adult books out there so I think this definitely fills a niche.  I look forward to future installments as well to get to know Chanti and the others from Langdon Prep more.

If you like character-driven mysteries then this is a great book for you.  I'm a sucker for private school novels, especially where someone less fortunate (poor) gets to go there.  I always pull for them.  My first exposure to this was Kate Brian's Private series.  While My Own Worst Frenemy is very different from that series, I see myself sticking with the Langdon Prep series as long as it goes on because it has a story I am interested in along with characters that intrigue me.  I enjoyed Ms. Reid's writing and look forward to the second installment, Creeping With the Enemy in May of 2012.

My Rating: 4.5/5.0

Parental guidance: Some swear words but not much, maybe a reference to sex, but nothing that stands out in my mind, definitely nothing graphic.  I would say 14+ because it just reads as an older book, but if I had a younger daughter who was more mature I would have no problem with her reading this one.

About the Book:
Straight outta the Mile High City, Chanti Evans is an undercover cop's daughter and an exclusive private school's newest student. But Chanti is learning fast that when it comes to con games, the streets have nothing on Langdon Prep.


With barely a foot in the door, fifteen-year-old Chanti gets on the bad side of school queen bee Lissa and snobbish Headmistress Smythe. They've made it their mission to take Chanti down and she needs to find out why, especially when stuff begins disappearing around campus, making her the most wanted girl in school, and not in a good way. But the last straw comes when she and her Langdon crush, the seriously hot Marco Ruiz, are set up to take the heat for a series of home burglaries--and worse. . . .


About the Author (from Goodreads.com): 
Kimberly Reid grew up in Atlanta where she lived some of the same experiences Chanti Evans does in the Langdon Prep series: she attended a prep school where she did not fit in, her mom was a police detective and she always wanted to help her solve crimes. Like Chanti, she has lived most of her life around law enforcement types.

But that's about where the similarities end. Kimberly is way too conflict-averse (scared) to be a detective although she did give her two cents on some of her mother’s cases whether asked or not.

She now lives in Colorado, which is why she has Chanti solving crimes in the beautiful city of Denver. It’s a lot like any other big city except the mountains make it feel like you’re home but also on vacation.

Kimberly has had a few jobs: sales, waiting tables, IRS tax collector, corporate manager, and office lady at a middle school, among others. She was pretty good at most of them but wasn't truly satisfied until she became a writer, the job she dreamed of doing since childhood.

Okay, but write about what?

Readers often ask writers where they get their ideas. Kimberly found plenty right at home. Not only was her mom a street cop, she also worked undercover in vice and was a crime investigator for the district attorney. Kimberly's stepdad is a criminal lawyer and former public defender which means she got to see both The Law and The Order from both sides of the courtroom (and the dinner table). Her husband worked many years at a police department. One of her many jobs was at a company run by former cops where she provided software support to police officers.

They say you should write what you know. Kimberly didn’t need to be a detective to figure out what she ought to write. Now when she sits at her laptop to spin a story, she knows how lucky she is to finally be doing the thing she loves.

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FTC Information: I received this book through Teen Book Scene for an honest review.  I do make money from purchases made at The Book Depository and B&N.com, but all money is used to fund giveaways and shipping for giveaways from the blog.

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Help Scholastic's One Million Bookprints for One Million Books Campaign

Scholastic Inc. 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012-3999, (212) 343-6700

www.scholastic.com

Scholastic Launches “One Million Bookprints for One Million Books” Campaign to Donate New Books to Children in Need

For Every Person who Creates a “Bookprint” at the Online Community, youarewhatyouread.com, a New Children’s Book will be Donated to Reach Out and Read  

New York – December 12, 2011 – A new campaign, ONE MILLION BOOKPRINTS FOR ONE MILLION BOOKS, kicks off today, inviting readers of all ages to create a “Bookprint” at the online community, youarewhatyouread.com.  For every Bookprint created, Scholastic Book Clubs will donate a new book to a child in need (up to one million books).  Books will be distributed through the national school readiness initiative Reach Out and Read.

What’s a “Bookprint”?  The five books that most impact someone’s life comprise their Bookprint.  They can be children’s or adult books and Bookprints can change over time.  On the “You Are What You Read” website, more than 200 “Names You Know” from entertainers to authors to journalists and even two U.S. presidents have shared their Bookprints.  The donation launches with 20,000 books – one book for each of the 20,000 Bookprints created by users already on youarewhatyouread.com.

The One Million Bookprints for One Million Books campaign is part of Scholastic Book Clubs annual ClassroomsCare program which helps teachers engage their students around the importance of reading and giving. 

“Creating a Bookprint is a great way for adults and children to talk about the importance of books in our lives and how books introduce us to heroes and role models or take us on exciting journeys to new places,” said Judy Newman, President, Scholastic Book Clubs, a division of Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company.  “Through Scholastic Book Clubs ClassroomsCare initiative, students and teachers can also participate in the Bookprints for Books campaign and help put books into the hands of the children who may otherwise not have the opportunity to own their own books and experience the profound impact books can have on someone’s life.”

The One Million Bookprints for One Million Books Campaign comes at a critical time for children’s literacy organizations such as Reach Out and Read and Reading Is Fundamental.  Recent government funding cuts are straining these organizations that provide books to the neediest children and critical advice to parents on how to develop their children’s early literacy skills at home.

“It is crucial for reading to begin at a young age and for all children to have books in their home,” says Earl Martin Phalen, CEO of Reach Out and Read. “The recent loss of government funding has impacted the ability of literacy organizations to continue to get books into the hands of children in need, so we thank everyone who creates a Bookprint in support of this campaign.”

In addition to making a donation of a book to a child, by creating a Bookprint at www.youarewhatyouread.com, participants will:

·        Join 205+ famous reading role models, including: Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Gates, Paulo Coelho, Oprah Winfrey, Scarlett Johansson, Suzanne Collins, Tony Hawk, Taylor Swift, Daniel Radcliffe, President William Jefferson Clinton, President George H.W. Bush, and many others

·        Connect with book lovers, similar readers from 140 countries and discover new reads based on books in other Bookprints

·        Enter a safe social network all about books with two separate communities – one for adults, the other for children under 13 years old

·        Find a book at a local library

Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.

Reach Out and Read builds on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop critical early reading skills in children, beginning at 6 months of age. The more than 3.9 million children served annually by Reach Out and Read read together more often, and they enter kindergarten better prepared to succeed, with larger vocabularies, stronger language skills, and a six-month developmental edge over their peers.

Reach Out and Read doctors and nurses distribute more than 6.4 million books to children at 4,779 pediatric practices, hospitals, clinics, and health centers in all 50 states, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities.

For more information on the Read Every Day campaign, visit http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday.
For more information about Scholastic, visit our Media Room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/youarewhatyouread.

***I received this book from the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  I do not receive money for my amazon links since I live in NC (something about some law), so they are up purely for my readers to have a place to check out the book.***

Teaser Tuesday (12)

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! 

Fifi arrives two minutes after the bell and heads toward us like she's abut to tell Marco he's in her seat. I work up the most evil eye I have ever given anyone, and shoot her a look that says, "Unless you want a beat down, you'll take that seat in the back corner." Lucky for her, old Fifi gets the message and changes course. That's one benefit to the scholarship-girl stereotype Langdon kids have of me. They assume I'm dangerous.

From My Own Worst Frenemy by Kimberly Reid





About My Own Worst Frenemy

Straight outta the Mile High City, Chanti Evans is an undercover cop's daughter and an exclusive private school's newest student. But Chanti is learning fast that when it comes to con games, the streets have nothing on Langdon Prep.
With barely a foot in the door, fifteen-year-old Chanti gets on the bad side of school queen bee Lissa and snobbish Headmistress Smythe. They've made it their mission to take Chanti down and she needs to find out why, especially when stuff begins disappearing around campus, making her the most wanted girl in school, and not in a good way. But the last straw comes when she and her Langdon crush, the seriously hot Marco Ruiz, are set up to take the heat for a series of home burglaries--and worse. . . .

Book Review: Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Publisher: Kensington

Publish Date: November 29, 2011

Paperback, 354 pages 
Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy
 ISBN: 978-0758266941
Mythos Academy #2

 
My Review:
You can't imagine my excitement when I received this book in the mail.  I participated in the Touch of Frost tour for Teen Book Scene so it came as a surprise to get the Kiss of Frost book from Kensington as well.  A wonderful surprise - so thank you Kensington.

Kiss of Frost starts up just a few weeks I would say in future from where Touch of Frost ends.  Gwen has settled into Mythos Academy a little more.  Daphne is her best friend, Logan is her sparring partner and the boy she not-so-secretly lusts after.  But as usual trouble seems to be finding Gwen again and this time during the Winter Carnival.

I found this installment to be a lot of fun.  And while it was a lot of fun, it also furthered the development of the world of the Mythos Academy and the warriors there and ones we learn about at other academies around the world.  I also learned more about the teachers and about Gwen's family.  So in a nutshell, this is a great second installment for the world-building.

But Jennifer Estep doesn't stop there of course.  Kiss of Frost also has a great story and great character building as well.  Gwen really starts coming into her own in this book and I learned more about Logan as well.  The story kept me turning pages wondering what would happen next and just when I thought the story was over, Ms. Estep took me for another thrill ride right until the end, and left me wanting and ready for the next installment in I believe June of 2012.  Mercifully she does give us a teaser chapter at the end of Kiss of Frost for the next book, Dark Frost.  Of course, the plot line for Kiss of Frost is mostly tied up at the end, but things are left open to continue the story.  She doesn't leave you hanging in a bad way, just in a way that makes you want to read the next story.

I can't really say much more without giving anything away, but Kiss of Frost is a must-read.  Reading Touch of Frost is not necessary to read Kiss of Frost because Ms. Estep does hit the main points of what happened in Touch of Frost.  But I feel to get the full feel for Gwen and some of the other characters and the Mythos Academy the books should be read in order.  Touch of Frost was an excellent book and my review can be found here.  And Kiss of Frost is an outstanding follow-up.  Now if June will hurry up and get here so I can enjoy Dark Frost as well.  I am enamored with the world of the Mythos Academy and how down-to-earth Gwen Frost really is.  I think Ms. Estep has created a character that everyone can relate to in Gwen in a mythological world and that makes it fun and interesting and definitely keeps me reading.


My Rating: 5.0/5.0

Parental guidance: Sexual references through the book but nothing graphic, usually references to couples hooking up (no actual sex takes place on the pages, just kissing), very little bad language, there is violence, but you would expect that, it's not over-the-top.  I suggest for ages 14+.  It's really not that bad in the scheme of things, nothing that a 12-year-old does not know is in this book.

My review of Touch of Frost

About the Book:
Logan Quinn was try­ing to kill me. My Spar­tan class­mate relent­lessly pur­sued me, swing­ing his sword at me over and over again, the shin­ing sil­ver blade inch­ing closer to my throat every time. A smile tugged up his lips, and his ice-blue eyes prac­ti­cally glowed with the thrill of battle...

I’m Gwen Frost, a second-year warrior-in-training at Mythos Acad­emy, and I have no idea how I’m going to sur­vive the rest of the semes­ter. One day, I’m get­ting schooled in sword­play by the guy who broke my heart—the drop-dead gor­geous Logan who slays me every time. Then, an invis­i­ble archer in the Library of Antiq­ui­ties decides to use me for tar­get prac­tice. And now, I find out that some­one at the acad­emy is really a Reaper bad guy who wants me dead. I’m afraid if I don’t learn how to live by the sword—with Logan’s help—I just might die by the sword...

About the Author: 
Jen­nifer Estep is a USA Today bestselling author, prowl­ing the streets of her imag­i­na­tion in search of her next fan­tasy idea.

Jen­nifer writes the Ele­men­tal Assas­sin urban fan­tasy series for Pocket Books. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assas­sin code­named the Spi­der who can con­trol the ele­ments of Ice and Stone. When she's not busy killing peo­ple and right­ing wrongs, Gin runs a bar­be­cue restau­rant called the Pork Pit in the fic­tional south­ern metrop­o­lis of Ash­land. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vam­pires, and ele­men­tals - Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.

Books in the series are Spider's Bite (2010), Web of Lies (2010), Venom (2010), and Tan­gled Threads (2011). Spider's Revenge, the fifth book in the series, will be released in Octo­ber 2011. By a Thread, the sixth book, will be released in February 2012, with the seventh book (untitled) tentatively set to be published in the fall of 2012.

Jen­nifer also writes the Mythos Acad­emy young adult urban fan­tasy series for Kens­ing­ton. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psy­chom­e­try, or the abil­ity to know an object's his­tory just by touch­ing it. After a seri­ous freakout with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Acad­emy, a school for the descen­dents of ancient war­riors like Spar­tans, Ama­zon, Valkyries, and more.

The first book, Touch of Frost, will be out in August 2011, while the sec­ond book, Kiss of Frost, will hit shelves in Decem­ber 2011. First Frost, a prequel e-story to the series, will be released in July 2011.

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FTC Information: I received this book from the author for an honest review.  I do make money from purchases made at The Book Depository and B&N.com, but all money is used to fund giveaways and shipping for giveaways from the blog.

Common English Bible Tour: Advent Bible Verse & Common English Bible Tour Translation Background #CEBtour

A few weeks ago I received a copy of the Common English Bible Translation to participate in a blog tour through the end of January.  I plan to feature several more posts between now and then to highlight this great translation of the Bible.  First I thought I would share a Bible verse from the Advent time of year and then introduce what makes the Common English Bible Translation what it is.


I think today's Bible verse is perfect for the time of year and very clear to understand in this new translation.   I will continue to post verses through the rest of the Advent season so stay tuned for more great examples of the Common English Bible.

Today's Bible Verse: Matthew 2:9

When they heard the  king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was.

Common English Bible Translation Background
Known for being “built on common ground,” the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages into 21st century English. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are currently in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats.

“When we say ‘built on common ground,’ we mean that the Common English Bible is the result of collaboration between opposites: scholars working with average readers; conservatives working with liberals; teens working with retirees; men working with women; many denominations and many ethnicities coming together around the common goal of creating a vibrant and clear translation for 21st century readers, with the ultimate objective of mutually accomplishing God’s overall work in the world; in essence, helping Bible readers live on common ground,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher for the Common English Bible.

The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY—using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. It’s available—with and without the Apocrypha—in multiple editions and bindings. Information about the Common English Bible is available on its website, Twitter stream, Facebook page, and video.

Combining scholarly accuracy with vivid language, the Common English Bible is the work of 120 biblical scholars from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities, representing such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

Additionally, more than 500 readers in 77 groups field-tested the translation. Every verse was read aloud in the reading groups, where potentially confusing passages were identified. The translators considered the groups' responses and, where necessary, reworked those passages to clarify in modern English their meaning from the original languages. In total, more than 700 people worked jointly to bring the Common English Bible to fruition; and because of the Internet and today’s technology it was completed in less than four years.

Author Interview Video: A Dog's Purpose author W. Bruce Cameron

Today I welcome author, W. Bruce Cameron who will answer my interview questions in this great video for the blog tour promoting both A Dog's Purpose and Emory's Gift.  My interview focuses on Emory's Gift.  For more tour stops, check out the tour schedule here.