Thursday, October 31, 2013

Review: Offside

 

Info:

Title: Offside
Author: M. G. Higgins
Series: Counterattack #5
Publisher: Lerner Classroom
Publication Date: April 1, 2013 (Originally published December 28, 2012)



Synopsis:

Between finishing late school projects and looking after her brothers and sister, Faith Patel barely has time to play soccer. And when she's at practice, surrounded by girls who can afford to play in club leagues, she doesn't even feel like part of the team. So when Coach Berg starts to give Faith extra attention, she feels . . . really special. It might be crazy, but suddenly Faith has a crush on her coach. Can she keep her head in the game? The situation gets worse after Faith's frenemy Caitlyn decides that Faith's getting special treatment. Will Caitlyn tell the rest of the team--and make Faith into a total outcast?



Review:

I didn't know this was a novella when I started it. I usually don't bother reading novellas because I find they often lack depth. I also didn't know it was part of a series, although I don't think I lost anything by starting with #5.

Offside wasn't a bad read, but neither was it very memorable. I did enjoy the soccer aspects and I also liked how important family was in this novel.

The 'romance' aspect of this one didn't do it for me. I know lots of girls develop crushes on teachers, but Faith went a little crazy with it. I mean, she was fantasizing about cooking him breakfast every morning! Also, the ending felt super rushed, which likely has a lot to do with it being a novella. 


This book had the potential to hit on some major issues, such as inappropriate relationships (such as teacher-student) and bullying, but it definitely felt like it stayed in a very 'safe' place and didn't push the boundaries.

Over, Offside was a quick ok read that I likely won't remember a few weeks from now. Read it if you're a soccer fan who likes novellas. Also, why is the girl on the cover white? She does not look like Faith at all!






Find the Book:

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository



Find the Author:

Goodreads 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Cover Compare: Anna Dressed in Blood

I've missed the last few weeks on Cover Compare, but today we are back in action. I'm partway through this one and I have to say I love the cover I have (on left). However, the love the one on the right even more. The red dress is so much creepier! Do you agree or are you a fan of the white?

US
UK

Monday, October 28, 2013

Maggie Stiefvater Signing Recap


Last Thursday I was lucky enough to get to attend a Maggie Stiefvater signing with the lovely Ambur from Burning Impossibly Bright. We got there ridiculously early, but it was really nice to get the chance to chat and catch-up (and teach the lady beside me about the word "butthurt" and how it relates to Ronald Weasley).

Ambur (right) and I
Finally Maggie arrived. She is hilarious! She told lots of funny stories about getting good news in awkward circumstances, meeting her literary idol and car-attacking silky fainting goats. I was seriously grinning the whole time. She even had an audience participation reading of one of the scenes from The Dream Thieves and lucky miss Ambur got to participate onstage.

Audience participation reading. Ambur is on the far left and Maggie is 2nd from the right

Then it was book signing time. I had 9 books (3 for fellow book bloggers Aylee, Cass and Tammy and 6 for me) and then let me get them all signed at once (Ambur and I were both totally prepared to line up again if there was a limit). Maggie personalized all of them and even drew a horse doodle in my copy of The Scorpio Races. So cool! Plus since I was up there for so long, I got to talk to her a bit and I was so awkward and fangirly and we somehow got onto the topic of packhorses and she accused me of lying about the name of my uncle's packhorse. Seriously. It was awesome.



Look, I am making her laugh with my fangirl flailing!