Notice for Review Requests

I receive review requests weekly. However, my personal schedule is hectic and I no longer review actively. (I also manage another blog called The Toronto Cafe and Food Blog). I do read every request sent but I apologize in advance that I do not reply to them all.

If I do take on a request, I will forewarn that it may take some time before I can review it. I am now looking to review adult fiction and self-help books instead of young adult fiction because I have grown out of it. If you are to request a review for either adult fiction or self-help, I will more likely to give it a shot.

In the meantime, Stop, Drop, and Read! serves as an archive book review blog. When I have the time, I may post a review. Thank you for understanding.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Ai Ore! by Mayu Shinjo

Title: Ai Ore!
Mangaka: Mayu Shinjo
Age Group: Older Teens
Series is: Complete with 5 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 1
My Rating: 2.5/5

Mizuki's boyish features have her as the prince at her all-girls school. She rocks the stage with her all-female band called Blaue Rosen. Akira is considered the princess of his all-boys school next door because of his feminine frame. Akira wants to join Mizuki's band when their singer moved away. Mizuki was against it as first but finally gave in. What is in hold for these two??

This took me quite awhile to get into. In the beginning, I was really annoyed by the fact that the girl looks like a guy and the guy looks like a girl. I have read mangas in the past where characters looked like the opposite gender (W Juliet), but I felt that in Ai Ore! it was a bit much. The mangaka could've at least toned it down a little. I would have preferred it if the characters looked like their gender but instead, have the girl dominate and guy submissive in the relationship. That would've been different than the usual manga plot lines that I have been seeing in the past 8 years in manga.

Midway through the manga, it was not so bad. The mangaka gave different situations for the characters to show their vulnerability and I got to see Mizuki more feminine and Akira more manly. [SPOILERS] However, everything went downhill for me towards the end. An upperclassman got really interested in Mizuki because she was so beautiful. So she nearly raped the Mizuki when their school was at a resort. Mizuki was luckily rescued, but later Akira sent one of his fans to rape the girl who was about to rape Mizuki. This I found to be absolutely ridiculous because the characters were only in first year of high school but they are doing such vile things. I would have forgiven this act a bit more if the characters were older and were not in high school. Except they were not. [SPOILERS END]

Unless you are a huge Mayu Shinjo fan, this manga could be skipped.

Review copy from Viz.

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Monday, July 18, 2011

My Monday Mailbox & Music Machine (July 18/11)

Mailbox


Review

Boyfriend from Hell by E. Van Lowe

Won

When the Stars Go Blue by Caridad Ferrer

Sorry that I don't update MMM&MM too frequently. It's just that since I'm winding down with my reviewing lately so I haven't request for any books lately.

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Music Machine

Title: Desert Rain
Artist/Band: Edward Maya ft. Vika Jigulina
Language: English
My Thoughts: LOVELOVELOVE

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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Short and Simple (7)

Title: March Story
Mangaka: Hyung Min Kim (Art) & Hyung Il Yang (Story)
Age Group: Older Teens
Series is: Ongoing with 3 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 2
My Rating: 5/5

Sentence Summary: Continuing adventures with March as she hunts for the demons called Ill.

Speaking Straightly: As fantastic as the first volume! There is possible romance budding in this one, haha. I totally look forward to the third volume! Totally recommend this series if you have never read it yet and is a manga fan.

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Title: Blue Exorcist
Mangaka: Kazue Kato
Age Group: Teens
Series is: Ongoing with 6 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 1
My Rating: 4/5

Sentence Summary: A boy discovers that he is a half-demon and vows to be an exorcist after the man who took care of him is killed by Satan!

Speaking Straightly: Been seeing and hearing a lot about this new popular series so I decided to give it a try. Not bad for the first volume. Definitely will appeal to shonen fans who are into demons. However, the first volume doesn't make me go crazy to pick up the second volume. But I wouldn't mind reading it if there is nothing else appealing on the shelf.

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Title: Hell's Belles
Author: Jackie Kessler
Age Group: Adults
# of Pages: 344
My Rating: 2/5

Sentence Summary: Jezebel is a succubus running away from Hell and pretends to be a human in order to hide.

Speaking Straightly: I tried. I really tried. I renewed this book 2 times and I still cannot get into it after half a novel later. The way it was written is just boring, no matter what kind of action scenes there are going on. I don't really care too much for the protagonist and the adult content is not that great either. Wouldn't recommend at all.
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Monday, July 4, 2011

My Monday Mailbox & Music Machine (July 4/11)

Mailbox

Borrowed

Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual
The Color Trilogy vol. 1 by Kim Dong Hwa


Too lazy to get the pics lol, you can google if curious :)

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Music Machine

Title: Hands Up
Artist/Band: 2pm
Language: Korean
My Thoughts: Current song stuck in my head. :D I love 2pm, glad they came back with a fun song.

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Sunday, July 3, 2011

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Hedley

Title: North of Beautiful
Author: Justina Chen Headley
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 373
My Rating: 5/5

From behind, Terra Cooper is seemingly all-so-beautiful as she have the figure, model height and blonde hair. However, if she was to turn around, one would have a double take. Due to her port wine stain that takes up part of her face, she buries her flaw underneath heavy makeup.

Terra plans on moving far away in order to start her life anew, away from her father who constantly verbal abuses her and her mother. She is tired of the life she is living and wants something different. Her wish is granted when she meets a goth Chinese boy who understands her and is not bothered by her face. Everything changes for her when she spends more time with him and the doors to the world open up.

You may notice that my reviews aren't very current with the latest novels as I'm trying to get through my current pile first. I was so glad to have North of Beautiful in the pile.

Generally, characters with Terra's brief characteristics tend to be those girls who have it all in those Gossip Girl themed novels. However, Terra is different. With her birthmark, she thinks a lot more differently than the usual teen. She for sure wants to fit in, but at the same time in her own way craves for new changes in life. She loves her mom and wishes that her mother could do better because her father is so mean and is not worth staying with. In all honesty, I was supporting Terra's mom the most throughout the novel. I wanted her to so badly to divorce her husband and was looking forward to that.

My favourite part of all is the fact that Terra and her mother got to go to Shanghai, China along with Jacob (Chinese boy) and his adopted mother. She experiences a whole new culture and it is great to see how it changes her perspective on things. I'm at the stage where I want to desperately go out and see the world and this book gives me that.

North of Beautiful is not your average, typical teen book. It have depths and meaning on being truly beautiful and the idea of living life. This is a great novel to pick up if you want something a bit more mature (not in a sexual way at all) and developed, not just your usual "girl likes boy" story. Or if you are tired of being bombarded with the latest titles and would like to go back to ones that you may have missed in the past couple of years.

Won copy from Books by Their Covers.
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Saturday, July 2, 2011