Review: Heaven looks a lot like the mall-Wendy Mass

Summary: When 16-year-old Tessa suffers a shocking accident in gym class, she finds herself in heaven (or what she "thinks "is heaven), which happens to bear a striking resemblance to her hometown mall. In the tradition of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Christmas Carol," Tessa starts reliving her life up until that moment. She sees some things she'd rather forget, learns some things about herself she'd rather not know, and ultimately must find the answer to one burning question--if only she knew what the question "was."
Written in sharp, witty verse, Wendy Mass crafts an extroardinary tale of a spunky heroine who hasn't always made the right choices, but needs to discover what makes life worth living.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Review: This was a very enjoyable read. I liked how Tessa was not like all girls in books. Normally, Young Adult girls would be a Miss Perfect and a goody two shoes. Tessa, on the other hand, wasn't. She did bad things and knew she did bad things. She accepted that she was bad in a sense. But she really wasn't that bad. In my opinion she was just like a normal teenager. She was bullied, she bullied others, she stole and lied. Admit it, all teenagers do that at some point in time. Even the goody two shoes. Tessa was a remarkable character that you found to love. She grew and developed, she became a better person. In most YA novels, the girl stays the same. Not in this one. Tessa wasn't beautiful either. But she tried for her mother. She showed a love for her family. Unlike most teenage girls do now.

Enough about the main character for now. :D Now let's get to the plot.

The plot was very interesting. Tessa "dies" in the beginning of the book. When she wakes up, she's in the mall she grew up in. She thinks it's her heaven. Then she meets a guy with a drill bit in his head. Nail Boy's name isn't told in this book. That leads to mystery. He hands her a bag with a ton of stuff in it. It turns out to be one thing for every year in her life up to when she gets hit with a dodge ball. They hold significance later in the story.

I found Tessa's life story interesting. She had a bad life and she knew it. All the things she did she thought was good at the time. Everyone has those moments.

Wendy Mass's book, Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall, is a book I'd reccomend to any growing up teenager. It has growth, development and a true life lesson.

Currently Reading #1

Right now I am reading Heaven looks a lot like the mall by Wendy Mass. It is in verse and it's very short. A review should be up tomorrow. I don't know what I'm going to read next though.

Review: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Long time no post. Here's a review though :D

Title: Beauty Queens
Author: Libba Bray
Summary: The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras. But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What's a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Your tour guide? None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine. The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Review: I liked this book. The characters were shallow, but they developed. I loved the writing style. But, at points in this book I was embarassed to be a woman. Especially at the commercial breaks. It was still a great riveting read and it made me feel like I was there. I didn't get the whole wild girl thing with Mary Lou though. Or the Petra Sinjin situation.