Review: The Mother-Daughter Book Club

 Hey Everyone!

       So for a while, I've been reading this series called the mother-daughter book club. I LOVE it. It's the kind of book that's really light and fun reading, not anything too intense. It reminds me of books by Lauren Myracle, in that it's about teen girls, and super relatable! The main characters: Jess (on the pink cover), a smart, fun girl who lives on a farm, is a great singer, and an amazing math-person; Cassidy (on the blue cover), who is super tough, loves hockey, but is just as caring as all the others; Megan (on the purple cover), who loves fashion and is very social, but knows the right thing to do all the time; and Emma (on the coral cover), who loves to read and write. All of them are really relatable in different ways, and the chapters switch off between each point of view and pull you through a story about normal things that could easily happen to you. Sure, it might be a little simple for our age, but it's always nice to have something light and relatable amidst all the intense books we can read now :) It's a great summer read!

-Alice

P.S. Sara and I are about to go to sleep-away camp, where there will be no computer access whatsoever (how will we survive?) ! So, for about the whole month of July, you won't see us on here :( unless, of course, we hand-write reviews in letter form to our friends on the blog :D

Review: City of Ashes

Hey Everyone!

As Alice said, sorry about the absence! I recently finished the sequel to City of Bones: City of Ashes, both by Cassandra Clare. The City of Ashes turned out to be much better then I expected. In some series, like Twilight, the reader is let down by the sequel...but this was not the case for City of Ashes. Also, in some threequels the reader gets the sense that the other two books were published for money reasons...however, in the Mortal Instruments Threequel it was clear that the sequel was necessary for the plot to continue. Anyways, about the book. Like City of Bones, City of Ashes follows the journey of a girl named Clary. Clary is a shadowhunter, one of a group of beings who act as a police force against demons. In this book, Valentine (the evil guy), is back and growing stronger. What makes him such a villian is not the bad things that he does, but the fact that he truly believes the things that he is doing are for the greater good. He believes that he is doing a great service by rallying the demons. Meanwhile, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Alec and the rest of the shadowhunters must do what they can to keep Valentine at bay...and they are not always successful. City of Ashes is a thrilling story that is impossible to put down. (I finished it in a day). The tales of war, loyalties, teenage dramas and romances, and struggles are captivating. I highly recommend this book!
On a side note, this book is for 13ish year olds.
Thanks!
- Sara Crewe

Summer Reading

Hey Guys!
      Sorry we haven't been active on the blog for a while! it was the end of the school year (our last year all together at school :( sadness), and the beginning of an awesome summer! Hopefully this can keep going like a sisterhood of the traveling pants thing, so we can stay connected.
     We need to post more, and what better way than for summer reading!! All of our schools have required reading, and who knows, they might all be pretty awesome. Look forward to a great summer! Mary, Sara and I are away for all of July, so hopefully the rest of us can read enough for all of us! And we'll come back with a lot of books read.

     Anyway, i'm just letting any readers know that we're still here and we're still reading. I've got a list of some books i'd like to read this summer, as well as some i've got to read for school in the fall. You can check out my shelfari here:

http://www.shelfari.com/o1515066187/shelf

it's a great website, and it's so much fun to use! here you can see the books i'm reading/am planning on reading. I'm not completely done setting it up, but i'm almost done listing them all. So, i guess it's a sneak peek at what you might see on the blog.

-Alice

P.S. Email us recommendations for this summer at behindthespine@gmail.com

Review: To Kill a Mockingbird

Hey Everyone!
So we just finished reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in school and i just had to write about it!
I found it to be the most amazing book i've ever read. How much thought Harper Lee must have put into all of those characters....how much time must have been spent deliberating about plot twists and themes... To Kill a Mockingbird was simply a work of art....it was impossible to get bored! If you haven't read it, it is a story about two children, Scout and Jem Finch and it follows their childhood and their adventures. What is so amazing about this story is that all the sub plot lines come together at the end. When you turn the last page and read the last sentence you are left wondering how on earth Harper Lee was able to do that!
it was so good.
and i very much recommend it.
-Sara C.

yay

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! to our 1,000th viewer!  Yay everyone <3

~wendy

Review: The Abundance of Katherines

Hey Readers!

So Bookfair was this week at our school and both Alice and I bought "The Abundance of Katherines" by John Green. At first I was a little creeped out by the cover..but I liked the author and so I gave it a try! It ended up being REALLY good! It's much more of a realistic story then I usually read - I tend to be into historical fiction/fantasy...This story is fiction and kind of reminded me of Carl Hiaasan's books. Anyways - so it's about a boy named Colin who has been dumped by 19 girls. and ALL of them were named Katherine...Not Catherine...or Kathryn...or Katie..or Cate....it was K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. and Every single one of those girls with the same nine letter name had dumped him. The book kinda follows his life as he tries to get over Katherine the 19th and he explores other names along the way. Colin also happens to be a genius...and throughout the book is working on an equation for the theory of relationships (time, dumpee v. dumper, attractiveness, etc). Anyways, the book is very entertaining...a little peculiar at times...but overall it was very good and i would definitely recomend it :)

Thanks!
- Sara

Review: The Grimm Legacy

Hey!

So last week our school had a book-related fundraising event. Polly Shulman, along with other authors, were there to sign books. I bought her book, the Grimm Legacy, and I was lucky enough to get it signed. It is a really good book and I highly recommend it. It is sort of like a fantasy version of the Mysterious Benedict Society. The cover shows it as very fantasy, but it can really be enjoyed by lovers of any reading style. The book is about a girl who's teacher recommends her for a job at a respiratory, which is just like a library only it lends out items, especially old ones. She has to undergo certain tests to unlock privleges to certain rooms or take out certain items, and there is a secret room called the Grimm Collection, with items from the real Grimm fairy tales- that really  work. There's some solid romantic plotlines as well as a really imaginative story. I highly recommend this book. If you enjoy this book, try the Sisters Grimm series and the Mysterious Benedict Society (or if you like those, try reading this).

-Alice