Fourth Wing is about twenty-year-old Violent Sorrengail and her time as a first year at Basgiath War College, where she trains to be a dragon rider. I
chose to read the book due to its popularity, and how it appealed with my interests in dragons and fantasy, as well as its relatable romance.
enjoyed the loveable characters and the interesting plot that kept me hooked in and invested. I didn't like some of the side-characters who seemed flat, I feel some of these characters could have been flushed out and developed more.
This is an enjoyable fantasy romance for young adult readers who prefer a more drawn out story and romance.

I picked up this book because it was on a list of Pulitzer Prize winners and I figured that was a good enough metric to give it a shot. I was not disappointed. Told from a few different perspectives, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a fantastic look into the lives of Dominican Americans. I could tell the author was writing from deeply personal experiences, and the result was riveting.

There's a lot I don't know about the Dominican culture, but I felt this book was an eye-opening look into their history. Told as personal anecdotes from the characters, it was wild to see the effects of living under a dictator. However, even once someone escaped from that oppression, life in America wasn't an easy walk in the park either. The effects of racism might not be as bad as having your daughters sold to a dictator, but they still aren't pretty. Using these point-of-view stories to convey all this made the experience of reading this book feel more authentic.

This audiobook also included a short story by the same author, "Drown." While this story wasn't quite up to the quality of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a lot of the author's style was still present. Of course, this style felt a little rougher than his Pulitzer Prize-winning work, but it was interesting to see how it evolved between the two. Ultimately, the Pulitzer Prize can be a somewhat subjective metric for whether a book is good or not. Here, it's spot-on and I think people should read it because of its award-winning status.

An excellent and authentic examination of the life of a Dominican American, I give The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 4.0 stars out of 5.

Eldest is a five-star book because of the amazing amount of fun I had reading it trying to figure out where they are based on the map in the front. Also, the ending was super satisfying because if you’ve read the first one you know Eragon had no father at the end you learn who it is.
I chose this book because I like to finish a series to the end and this is the second one and it was as good or better than the first.
Also, Paolini is an amazing author, and he is especially good at painting a picture in your mind with nothing but words especially when he comes to describing the elves and their main city Elesmera. All in all this book is great so don’t let its length stop you from enjoying the amazing books of Paolini.

A piece of advice given to most writers is to make their characters suffer, then document how they grow. In Summer Knight, Jim Butcher puts Harry Dresden through the ringer. Not only is Dresden on the edge of being homeless and dead from starvation, but he finds himself tangled up in the politics of the wizards and faeries. As usual, the world-building in the Dresden Files is fantastic and multi-layered. Sure, there are still the problems that keep popping up in this series, but they seemed less when Dresden was focused on merely staying alive.

With each book in the Dresden Files, I find the deepening lore fascinating. In Summer Knight, we finally learn about the council of wizards and see how unique Harry is when compared to others from the organization. In learning about more of his past, it’s easy to see how Dresden has come to this impasse with the council. Furthermore, Grave Peril had mere hints of the faerie world and workings that Summer Knight fully expanded upon. While a lot of the world-building looks like mere politics, that it’s as well thought out as this shows to Butcher’s talent here.

While there are still bad examples of “men writing women” in this book (which is the case throughout the series), at least it seemed a bit toned down from the previous books. Dresden’s backstory made him a bit more likable in this book, as there were at least explanations why he is the way he is. I enjoy his somewhat unorthodox way of handling magic battles and can’t wait until he’s truly trained to be a more precise magic user to really see his talent emerge.

Some great world-building and main character exposition for the Dresden Files, I give Summer Knight 4.5 stars out of 5.

This book is about a wimpy kid whose name is Greg Heffly.
He told Christmas was near and if you made a mistake in first 11 months its not a big deal but if you make a mistake in holiday month you will pay for it.
So Greg needs to be good so Santa can be good to him in return.
He and Rowley decide to be good boys till Christmas Eve. However, all does not go well as planned.
They are accused of vandalizing school property and before any action can be taken, there is a blizzard in the season and the ground is covered in three feet of snow.
This only means that Greg is locked with his family in his house and cannot step out.

I quite enjoyed most of the elements of this book. I liked the characterizations, the world-building, plot, and dialogue. I haven't spend a ton of time in sci-fi, but I feel as though most of the jargon had some good context and I was able to pick it up pretty readily. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am bought into finishing the trilogy and finding out becomes of these characters.
I particularly liked the ideas that are put out in terms of consumerism, colonization, ecological terrorism, and species symbiosis and parasites. It wasn't all 'grim-dark' and while it left me clenching my fist, it wasn't hopelessness, but self-reflection, and a blossoming interest-- which I feel are good reactions to have to scifi-typical questions that are often raised in texts. I particularly appreciated that I didn't love the characters from the beginning. I felt they were pretty well-rounded and they grew on me.

Eragon is a 5-star book because though it is long and hard to understand to the right reader it is wonderful. If you think you have a big vocabulary read this book as a test and get absorbed into the inheritance trilogy. I chose this book because it was long, and I like long books but though it is long don’t let that stop you from exploring with Eragon the newest dragon rider all throughout Alegaesia 15 leagues (51 miles) from Carvahall his hometown deep in the dwarf city of Farthen Dur. This book had plot twists all around the corner, it was not at all super predictable and all throughout Eragon's final battle you will be sitting on the edge of your seat. If you want something to do over the summer that isn’t just sitting down, playing video games try reading this book, it is a great summer read.

The Great Gatsby is a really good book that I did not expect to like because I was assigned to read it in school. Set prior to the Great Depression, the book sets the stage for how the wealthy lived on the East Coast, while also portraying some of the nation's struggles at that time through various pieces of text and dialogue. The book was a constant surprise to me, and even when I felt confident something would for sure happen the book took an unexpected turn. It is very hard to find a "good" character in the book, seeing as most of them are more "morally gray", and this creates a very interesting dynamic for the reader. Overall it was a very good book, and that's coming from someone who's hated just about every book they've had to read in school.

11th grade

The book "Rivals" by Tommy Greenwald is a book about two rival middle school basketball teams. The best players on each team are trying to do everything they can to try and beat their rival. A news reporter, named Alfie Jenks, discovers many actions that are not on the basketball court that are just as important to the game as on the court ones. I chose to read this book because the author was coming to visit our school, so I thought I'd read the book. I liked how the book was very much like a middle schoolers life, and the different perspectives. I wasn't the biggest fan of some parts where the book was cringe. But, overall I thought this book would be good for a middle school student, because I feel that it gives a good representation of some of the struggles and problems that kids can have at that age.

In the fantastical world of medicine, doctors are galavanting around saving lives in the nick of time… or not. Maybe being a doctor is less glamorous than glorified Medical Dramas may suggest. Perhaps, for the newly initiated, the countless sleepless nights on call or mean residents demanding tasks at a dizzying pace, being a doctor is harder than one could imagine. The Devil Wears Scrubs provides a humorous satirical glimpse into the misadventures of a green intern, Jane McGill, as she attempts to navigate the dizzying pace of hospitals and the profession of saving lives. Jane is metaphorically slapped across the face with reality on her first day at County Hospital; she knows nothing and will do everything wrong. It does not help that Jane was assigned under Dr. Alyssa Morgan, who seems to leave out important instructions and make Jane’s life all the harder. As Jane navigates her new hectic environment, McFadden’s humor and satire make this novel about the grueling nature of the medical field largely entertaining.

To be honest, I was skeptical, somewhat expecting a medical supernatural romance, and based on the summary and title, one could infer worse. I judged the book by the cover. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The book flows seamlessly, fast-paced, witty, and entertaining. It made me laugh a great deal with the subtlety of the humor and satire and the quick remarks of the characters. Jane is a compelling protagonist who makes a lot of mistakes and faces dire consequences.

While I enjoyed this book greatly, don’t expect anything too deep. The characters are shallow, the plot not much to fawn about, and the endless loose ends at the end. All of these reasons may seem to discount the potential of this book, but The Devil Wears Scrubs was never intended to be deep; it is supposed to be lighthearted, witty, and entertaining. So if you go into the book expecting depth, save yourself the time, and set it down, but if you want a good-natured laugh at the misfortune of another, written in a satirical tone, then by all means pick up this book right now.