Review: Eighth Grade Bites

Title: Eighth Grade Bites

Author: Heather Brewer

Format: Paperback

Date Read: June 3, 2016

Rating: 3/5

Recommend: Yup!

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Vladimir Tod has to keep his vampire urges under control while dealing with the pressures of middle school, and he hates junior high. His mother was human, his father a vampire. Vlad has no idea what his powers are, however he has to struggle daily with blood cravings and enlarged fangs. A substitute teacher makes him think his cover might soon be blown, however Vlad has bigger problems – he's being hunted by a vampire killer.

Review:

Checked this book out on a whim from the local library. Quite glad I did. I will eventually be getting to the rest of the books in this series. However, let's focus on this one, Vlad's introduction into the world.

Being thirteen is hard enough, let alone being a thirteen-year-old boy. Compound the usual pressures of being a teenager with the fact that you are a vampire. While normal teenage boys are dealing with hormonal ridden urges, Vlad is trying to manage his blood cravings and the fact that his fangs keep getting bigger. Seriously, as if puberty wasn't bad enough!

Along with puberty comes the nightmare that is middle school. Middle school isn't easy on anyone. Eighth grade is by far one of the most difficult, simply because it is your last year there before you ultimately have to enter the even bigger nightmare that is high school. Vladimir is by far one of my favorite characters, and he is quite different than any other vampire I've read about before. I love that this story was free of excessive moodiness and angstiness, and it made Vlad and the story a bit more relate-able. Relate-able in the sense that I've been a thirteen year old and have suffered the hell that is eighth grade.

This is a good beginning to a series, and there is so much room for growth and I ultimately look forward to reading more of this series soon.

I apologize if this review seems rambling and repetitive, it's been a while and I'm still getting my feet back under me when it comes to my reviews.   

What's On My Kindle? Dickens. Charles Dickens.

This week's What's On My Kindle? features books by one of my favorite classical authors, Charles Dickens.  (insert collective groan here).

No, seriously.  Dickens has always been one of my favorites, and I know most of his books are exceptionally long, and excessive on the description, however when he was writing and you were paid by the word...you wrote as much as you possibly could right?

I've several Dickens titles on my Kindle, all of which are free thanks to services like Project Gutenburg.  However, the ones I'm featuring are by far my all time favorite Dickens novels.

1.) Oliver Twist

Who didn't fall in love with Oliver?  Want to see him ultimately find a family?  Who didn't secretly like the Artful Dodger?

This book inspires all sorts of feelings, and ultimately has been labeled a "national institution" by George Orwell,   It is a morality lesson, a social protest, and a detective story all rolled into one package and has turned into several, successful movie ventures.  Most of which are musicals, featuring one of my favorite songs :)

2.) Great Expectations

This is most likely one of Dickens' best novels.  Orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the work of the forge, however he dreams of being a gentleman.  One day, he finds himself in possession of 'great expectations.'

This story includes such magnificent characters aside from dear orphaned Pip.  There is Magwitch - a fearsome convict.  Estella - haughty beauty.  A jilted bride - Miss Havisham, who is greatly embittered.

This is a tale of crime, guilt, revenge and reward.  Does it have a happy ending?

This is also another one of Dickens' stories that has made it onto the silver screen multiple times. 

What is your favorite Dickens' novel?

BPC: Used

Book photo challenge information can be found here: Just One More Page: Book Photo Challenge

July 1st: Used

 Books included in this shot, all links go to the Goodreads book page for each book:
Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

Bibliophile Round-Up: June In Review

Where You Can Find Me:
Goodreads §§ tumblr §§ Twitter §§ Facebook

Welcome to June's Round-Up!  Here you'll find a collected gathering of everything that happened in the month of June...including all the books that I've read this month!  As you can see, this has been a very active month for the blog...mainly because I finally decided to force myself to find time to kick things up again...and I'd been neglecting my reading.  Hopefully starting in July, I will have some reviews going up (because I really, really do miss writing them!).

What I Read

1. Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
2. The Wizard of Time by G.L. Breeden
3. Feast, Stray, Love by Kevin Anthony
4. Roasting in Hell's Kitchen by Gordon Ramsey
5. Hoo-Doo Country Horrors by Johnathan Moon
6. The Pursuit of Happiness: 21 Spiritual Rules to Success by Jennifer O'Neill
7. Soul Enchilada by David Macinnis Gill
8. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
9. 3500: An Autistic Boy's Ten-Year Romance with Snow White by Ron Miles
10. The Somali Doctrine by James Grenton
11. A Child al Confino: The True Story of a Jewish Boy and His Mother in Mussolini's Italy by Eric Lamet
12. Tales from the Crib by Jennifer Coburn
13. Champion by Marie Lu
14. Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
15. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
16. So Long, Lollipops by Sarah Lyons Fleming
17. Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge
18. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
19. Bound in the Boardroom by Jenna McCormick
20. Wetter by Harper Bliss
21. The Shadow in the Garden by Braden McElroy
22. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
23. The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
24. The Moon Dwellers by David Estes
25. Grave Witch by Kalayna Price
26. Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
27. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
28. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
29. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
30. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
31. The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner
32. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Books of the Week

1. May 31 - June 6: The 5th Wave
2. June 7 - June 13: The Name of the Wind
3. June 14 - June 20: The Tapestry
4. June 21 - 27: Game of Thrones
5. June 28 - July 4: Looking for Alaska

Book of the Month

1. June 2015: The Moon Dwellers

What's On My Kindle?

1. Episode Thirteen: Stephen King
2. Episode Fourteen: #TeamLexy
3. Episode Fifteen: All The Feels

Bibliophile Eats

1. Meat Pie
2. Fast Food Moments

#TBT

1. Lord of the Flies
2. Drums of Autum

Bibliophile Wish List

1. Julie Kagawa

Something New at Confessions

As you all may or may not know, I've started a tumblr that is dedicated to well, the one thing I love most dearly on the planet...books.  Yes, I've joined booklr. Starting in July, I will be participating in one of the many Book Photo Challenges that are circulating around the community.  I have chosen one in particular, and I will be working on photos through out the month.  You'll be able to see them here, on my instagram, the Confessions of a Bibliophile Facebook page,  my twitter, and of course on my tumblr page.

I encourage you to follow me on these platforms, so that way you can get the book recommendations, and see all the pictures as soon as possible.

Here is the list that I will be using for this Book Photo Challenge, as taken from Just One More Page's tumblr:

I will be setting up a page on this blog's homesite, so you can easily find a direct link to each image daily.  Also, beginning in July, expect to see regular reviews from me again.  I've been out of the loop lately, so the first few might be a bit rusty, so just please be patient.  As always, my reviews are cross-posted here, tumblr, goodreads, amazon, and new this month, Audible. 

I think that's about all the announcements I have for you today.  This month's book of the month went live earlier today, and this book has now become near and dear to my heart, because it will be one of the first audio book I do a review for, The Moon Dwellers by David Estes. 

Remember, keep reading!