Oblivion Road

Oblivion Road
by Alex McAulay

A car accident on an isolated Colorado road strands four friends in the middle of a frigid blizzard. Two friends search for help and instead find a vehicle up the road--an abandoned prison van, and a dead driver. As the four friends hide out in their immovable SUV, one of the prisoners stumbles out of the woods.

Can he be trusted? He admits to be a meth dealer, though he was once in the army. As he leads them on a trek to a nearby town, the four friends get somewhat suspicious, and they also get the feeling they are being watched along the way.

Grade: C

I'm not sure where to start with this. It wasn't a very good book for me. I wasn't a big fan. I thought the plot was really interesting and original, but to me it didn't really flow very well. The main character, Courtney, was odd, and I just got annoyed whenever reading something she was thinking. So, I didn't really enjoy the book itself, or the characters, but I really liked the storyline.

Laguna Cove

Laguna Cove
by Alyson Noël

Anne is certainly not happy when she moves to Laguna Beach, California to live with her dad after her parents' divorce. It is completely different from Connecticut. All the people do is surf or hang out on the beach!

Once she meets Lola at a movie premiere, she decides to give Cali a chance. She then befriends Lola's other friends: gorgeous Chris, down-to-earth Jade, and competitive Ellie. She hits it off with Lola and Jade, and Chris has even said he will teach Anne how to surf, but Ellie gives her the death glare every chance she gets.

The closer she gets to Chris, and better she gets at surfing, the more Ellie seems to hate her guts. But Anne has worked hard to fit in, so she isn't giving in to Ellie's death glares, and she might even enter Surf Fest to give her a run for her money.

Grade: B+

I've been an Alyson Noël fan since I read Art Geeks and Prom Queens a few years ago. When I read the first chapter, I was thinking this was going to be about a bitchy high school girl, but I continued reading, and found that it wasn't completely true!

Anne was the character I enjoyed the most. And Chris, because he seems like a total cutie. :) I didn't really care all that much about Jade, but she wasn't very involved. I was confused by Lola, because of the way she was sneaking around with a guy, I figured it was a married man, or someone a lot older, but it ended up being neither of those. Ellie was totally rude, and I definitely think she overdid it, and I am also confused by her decision she made at Surf Fest.

One thing I didn't really like was that the book had chapters in the views of Anne, Ellie, Lola, and Jade. I think that's too many characters to keep up with, personally. I was mostly interested in Anne, since she was the new girl, though, I suppose it's good to know the people she was meeting, right? Also, the ending was disappointing. The last chapter was about Ellie, when I think it really should have been about Anne. I'm confused by what happens with Anne and Chris at the end, along with Lola and Dean.

Shutter Island

Shutter Island
by Dennis Lehane

The year is 1954, and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is on his way on a ferry to Shutter Island, where Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane resides. He has a new partner, Chuck Aule, and together they must figure out how Rachel Solando, a murderess, has mysteriously escaped from her room.

Upon arrival, Ashecliffe is certainly suspicious. They are denied access to looking at patient and employee files. Teddy could be at the hospital for multiple reasons: the escape, the radical approach on psychiatry, or even potential experimentation. With a hurricane in the forecast, and communication cut off from the mainland, Teddy and Chuck begin to think that they might never get off Shutter Island...

Grade: A+

Not really a book I normally review, right? :)

Normally I prefer to read the book before seeing the movie, but in this case, I saw the movie first. I am so intrigued by anything related to mental illness and institutions. (Am I weird?!) I figured the book would be so incredibly different from the movie, like they usually are. But I was wrong!

I started off reading, and there is a prologue that is some years later, and it's Chuck talking, and that got me thinking, "oh great, this is going to be so different." But I continued reading, and I could hardly stop. I was so into the book (which is great since I have been in a reading slump!). And, I'm not sure which I liked better: the book or the movie. They were both fantastic! If you like thrillers and mystery, give this a try!