Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman (Great)

Hey!  Hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving.  Antsy Does Time is a great story.  It was a bit sad a one point, but I was happy with the ending.  It was a classic book by this author who, quite frankly, I absolutely love.  To paraphrase a quote someone gave on his books (you can read it on the cover of some of his books including Bruiser) It will keep you thinking about the characters for years after you read it. 
Here's the cover:

Amazingly enough, it has absolutely nothing to do with jail, as the title may suggest.  Instead, it deals with the trading of months of your life.  It all started when a boy fell terminably ill; Antsy thought he would help him emotionally with giving the boy some of his life.  Time dealing becomes a big, no huge, deal as more and more people add time to this kid's life.  But, something fishy is going on, something involving this kid's family and Antsy is taking it upon himself to sniff it out.
It really only mentions the first book in the "series", like, 3 times.  You would be fine if you didn't read it.  You probably wouldn't even notice one of the references. 
It was pretty funny and I finished it incrediably quickly.  I think you'll love it.
Currently, I'm not really sure what I am doing, reading wise.  I am reading Stephen King's The Shining and loving it, but I am a little shocked because it is so like me yet so not like me to read.  I am also rereading The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan which I am shocked that I haven't done a post on.  (That will probably be coming soon.)  I just don't want to read a bunch of books when Christmas is right around the corner.  Come to think of it, if you want me to do a bunch of various book reviews for your Christmas lists, just comment and let me know. 
I hope you enjoyed my special Black Friday post.

Crossed by Ally Condie (Still Awesome)

Hey!  I decided that I will try to post every Friday.  (It's the only day that I have time.)  I thought that I would let you know that.
Anyway, I read the sequel to Matched and found that it was as good as the first book.  Here's the cover:

The cover is a lot like the first book's.  I think that it's an altogether very artsy and basically, awesome, cover.  She's inside the sphere in the first one, she's breaking out in the second, and I would guess that she is either completely out or standing in its ruins in the third.  (It's not out yet.)

The book was very good.  It was a little less love triangle- like and a little more action filled than the first book.

I really do not want to spoil anything for the people who have not read Matched yet...  So, if you have not: STOP READING NOW!!!  Okay, have all of you read it?   It's your own fault if you didn't, so now that I feel better, here is my descriptions.  There's no spoilers if you haven't read Crossed yet.

Cassia and Ky alternate narrating this adventure.  Cassia journeys to find Ky in the Outer Providences.  There they are fired upon every night by some of these "bad guys".  There are some new characters that come along that you can quickly fall in love with.  They travel long and hard across a very entrancing world.  They find out what the Society has been keeping from everyone, find out more of Ky's story, find a hidden community, and as they try to find something...  Even if some of the party would rather it not be found.

Read it to find out where Cassia, Ky, and Xander stand in their relationships and who will ever see the other ones again.

If you have not read it, it is a must read for anyone who likes dramatic love/action books.  It is not my usual kind of series, but it's nice to shake it up a bit.  

I am currently reading Antsy Does Time (which is the sequel of The Schwa was Here).  I will post as soon as a get a chance.  

Until then, Happy Reading!

The Schwa was Here by Neal Shusterman (Really Great)

Hey everyone!  Sorry that I keep changing my rating scale.  I just have so many books that fall between levels.  I read The Schwa was Here a couple days ago.  Here's the cover:

I read it because the author is really, really good.  (I will have a lot more reviews from him.)  And I wasn't disappointed.  

This book is about a boy who is "functionally invisible" (that means not noticed) named Calvin Schwa, whom everyone calls The Schwa.  It is told from his friend, Antsy's, point of view.  They conduct experiments to see how far The Schwa can go unnoticed.  When they get caught, they have to work for some crazy old man.  But then this girl comes into play...  

It is a wonderfully told book with twists and turns and a lot of comic relief.  I would really recommend reading it.  It has one of the best endings that I have ever read.  It's one of those endings which leaves you thinking about it constantly and thinking " Omg!  That was SO good!"  At least, it did for me.

My one bit of confusion in the entire book was in the beginning, like the first page.  I thought that "dummy" meant "idiot" instead of  "puppet".  That was completely my fault, but I thought I would clear it up in case you get confused.  When you read it, imagine that it was "idiot" and you'll realize why I was sort of shocked.

Anyway, if you're not sure of if you want to read it, read the first page or two.  I am 99% sure that you will love it.

I think there is a second book: Antsy Does Time.  It may not be directly related, so I'll let you know once I read it.  In the meantime, I hope you read The Schwa was Here.  Let me know if you have any book you want me to read/ review.    

Matched by Ally Condie (Awesome)

Hey!  Sorry it took me so long to post, especially since I finished this book on Tuesday...
This isn't one of my normal kinds of books, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My best simplified description is Twilight meets Hunger Games meets The Giver.  
Here's the cover:

Okay, this is a really good book.  I heard an interview-like thing with the author and thought she sounded like she would write a good book.  I was right.  This is one of those weird books that I don't quite know why I like, but that I can't stop reading.  I just want to point out that this is definitively a girl's book, because it is mostly a love book.
My description is this:  A girl named Cassia lives in a Utopia setting run by the Society.  The world, run by the Society, is doing fine because of a system called Matching.  They sort people to find their best partner.  The Matchees see that person for the first time on a screen during a ceremony.  Cassia sees two people flash on her screen.  She starts to love them both.  All three of them are in the middle of a complicate love triangle.  You'll have to read it to find out what will happen next.
I would go farther in describing it, but I don't want to give anything else away.  The pace gets really quick by the middle though, trust me, there's even a mild action scene.  I will say reveal, however, that there are like two poems involved.  (That probably means more than you might suspect right now.)
To explain my earlier description: this is like Twilight and The Hunger Games in terms of the love triangle and like The Giver in the sense of the not perfect Utopia setting.
This is a really popular book and everyone I know who's reading it is completely immersed.  I thought that since I started it late, I wouldn't finish it for a while, but I finished it in like 3 days (despite the length).  This book is one of those you-can't-put-it-down-no-matter-what books. 
Again, I wanted to remind you that this is about as much of a guy book as Twilight is.  I would recommend this to almost anyone (again with this being a girly book).
Tell me what you thought about it.  I really hope you enjoy it.

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan. (Awesome)

Hey, everybody! Sorry that I'm late posting this. I got a little caught up. So, since I haven't finished any of my library books yet, I decided that I would review the Ranger's Apprentice series. This is definitely more of a guy series, but girls will love it too (I know that from experiance). I honestly can't tell you how poplular it is, because I'm not 100% sure.  I know if it's not that it definitely should be.  There are ten books in the series: The Ruins of Gorlon, The Burning Bridge, The Icebound Land, The Battle for Skandia, The Sorcerer of the North, The Siege of Macindaw, Erak's Ransom, The Kings of Clonmel, Halt's Peril, and The Emperor of Nihon-Ja. And here's acouple of the covers:

Those are just a few of them and this is one of those series that have different covers, so don't be alarmed if you see a different kind. 

Anyway, back to the series.  I really liked it.  It had solid characters and perfect plot shifts and turning points.  It was beautifully written.  It kept you guessing about what would happen next and who would attack whom.  The character's relationships were really thought out and intracing. 

My only complaints about the entire ten book series (I would usually have a lot more considering how many books there were) was that the author decided to put books 5 and 6 in the close future and then the series carrys on until catching up with those books and then there was another book or two.  (I really hope that that made sense.) 

Most of the series goes pretty much that part one of the book is book one, the second part of that book is book two, the third book is the start of another adventure, the fourth is the second part of that adventure, etc. 

My second complaint, which is related to the first, is that at the very beginning of the book, the reader has no idea how much time has past since the book before it.  When I read the first chapter of acouple of the books, I was all like "Wow! When did that happen?".  It cleared itself up though really quickly, usually by the second chapter.

The basic premise of the series (this won't give anything away)  is that there is a boy named Will who is chosen to become a Ranger. He learns how to do Ranger like things, but the problem is that a war is brewing just like it did years and years ago. It's up to the Rangers and some of their friends to stop all the other forces before its too late. 

That was mostly the first two books' description, but I think that it is not really nessecary to spoil anything just because once you read the first book the rest will come quickly afterwward.  Most of the books are fast paced and the slow parts are nice and sweet or they're funny.  There are definetly parts that will make you laugh, think, or cry(if you are one of those people who cry when they read).  Actually...  I'm not sure if you would cry, it's not all that sad...

If, again, you don't believe me; go ask someone who has read this series and see what they think.  It's not just me.  It is really amazing.

I'll post again soon, I'm about halfway through Matched so I'll post when I'm done with it, if not before.

Until then, Happy Reading!

*UPDATE: Three years have passed since I posted this review.  I noticed the "rating" was "between good and awesome".  I have no idea what I was thinking! I replaced the rating with the correct one.  This is one of the best series I've ever read.  Since last posting, I have reread it.  Twice.  It is still just as hilarious.  The characters have all been amazing.  In fact, the protagonist from this series, Will, is my favorite character of all time.  I have no idea why I ever doubted the Ranger's Apprentice series.  I apologize for my past self's behavior!

What I just got!

I just asked for two new books from the library. They were The Schwa was Here by Neal Shusterman and Matched by Ally Condie. I'll let you guys know how they were as soon as I read them! I'm also planning on reading The Outcasts by John Flanagan, but I am not 100% sure yet. I loved the Ranger's Apprientice (my review is coming soon!) and I don't want to read a bad sequaling series. But, while we wait for all that, follow me, comment, do something to show me that I have an audience out there! I'll try to post again on Friday. So I'll see you then.