IT'S A MALL WORLD AFTER ALL by Janette Rallison book review

It's a Mall World After All by Janette Rallison

 It's too bad they don't give out diplomas for what you learn at the mall, because I could graduate with honors in that subject. No really. Since I've worked there, I've become an expert on all things shopping-related. For example, I can tell you right off who to distrust at the mall:

1) Skinny people who work at Cinnabon. I mean, if they're not eating the stuff they sell, how good can it be?

2) The salesladies at department store makeup counters. No matter what they tell you, buying all that lip gloss will not make you look like the pouty models in the store posters.

3) And most importantly—my best friend's boyfriend, Bryant, who showed up at the food court with a mysterious blonde draped on his arm.

Yeah, I saw it, and yeah, I told my best friend all about it.

You would think this would mean trouble for Bryant, but you would basically be wrong. Somehow, the evil boyfriend turned everything around, and now I'm the one who has to prove myself! But I will. Even if Bryant—and more importantly his best friend, Colton—keep trying to stop me.



What a fun book! I laughed out loud numerous times! I finished this book around 11:30 PM and tried to laugh quietly, which shook the bed and woke my husband anyway.

The story is about Charlotte who was teased in jr. high and is still smarting from the teasing in high school. Her family moved away for a few years and when Charlotte moves back she is hot. But she takes revenge out on the boys in her school and refuses to date any of them.
Charlotte works in the mall and sees her best friends boyfriend flirting with a girl from another school. Like any best friend, Charlotte tattles and this leads to many hilarious scenes.
Good messages about holding grudges, being a snob, and why you shouldn't use bunson burners to heat cider

The Girl Who Heard Demons by Janette Rallison

Shy Adelle Hansen hears demons, but she’s determined to make friends at her new high school by keeping her ability secret.
When she overhears supernatural voices celebrating the impending death of the school quarterback, Levi Anderson, she knows she has to do something to prevent it. However, the demons aren’t the ones plotting; they’re just celebrating the chaos, and Adelle must contend with earthly forces as well if she wants to preserve Levi’s life.
Handsome, popular Levi doesn't appreciate Adelle’s self-appointed role of guardian angel. As Adelle battles to keep him safe, she’ll have to protect her heart, too. Can she do both?

  Opening line:

"The demons came again during the night."

First off, I love Janette Rallison's writing style and humor so I was excited this book won on kindlescout.

Second: I got this book because I nominated it and it won!

Third: Did I say I love Janette Rallison's writing? It's A Mall World After All had me laughing out loud.

I was a little worried about reading this book at night, but I didn't need to worry, other than I stayed up late reading because I wanted to know what happened next! Danger, demons, delicious romance all mixed in this book.

Adelle and Levi are the main characters and get their own chapters. Each have something they are struggling with and have to learn how to overcome it. I enjoyed reading their points of view and felt they added well to each others story and the overall plot. They were cute and funny and real to me.

There are bad, bad guys and they are evil. No punches are pulled in describing them and their deeds. Right from the beginning of the book I wondered what choices I've made now and in the past that might attract a nasty demon to hang out with me. It was an interesting takeaway.

While this is a young adult book, I think readers of upper reading levels would enjoy it.

5 STARS

FRIENDS AND TRAITORS (Slayers #2) by C.J. Hill

The Slayers – teens who have powers to fight dragons—are back by popular demand in this high-octane sequel, now with a new cover package!

Tori is at a White House dinner party when she hears a horrifying sound: dragon eggs hatching. It means in less than a year, the dragons will be mature and dangerous. The Slayers are well-trained, but their group is not yet complete, and Tori is determined to track down Ryker Davis, the mysterious Slayer who has yet to surface.

What Tori doesn’t bargain for, however, is the surprising truth about her powers: she isn’t a Slayer after all, but a Dragon Lord, with a built-in predisposition to protect dragons, not kill them.
How will she overcome this to save the lives of her friends?

Hardcover, 400 pages

Expected publication: October 15th 2013 by Feiwel & Friends 

First line:
"It would be ironic, Brant Overdrake thought as he paced around the cabin of his jet, for a man who could fly to be killed in a plane crash."

I think I enjoyed this book more than the first, if it's possible to enjoy a second book in a series.
Tori learns she is a dragon slayer and spends the summer training to be one. She falls for Jesse and they seem to hit it off but by the end of the summer, he wants to end it so he doesn't get distracted. So, Tori turns to her counterpart, Dirk, for comfort.
 BUT a crisis interrupts the love triangle in the shape of baby dragons, who will be fully grown in about two years. The Slayers have to learn to work together for the good of the team and America. Unfortunately, there is Dragon Lord and his off spring involved who are determined to kill all the Slayers so the Dragon Lord can take over the world. Who will win? Who will die? And who will Tori end up with??
Hopefully, all questions that will be answered in the next book.


Rating: PG 13
F: Fighting with bad guys and dragons
L: No
S: No

Liked:
Story

Disliked:
Have to wait for the next book

4 STARS

My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Tansy Miller has always felt that her divorced father has never had enough time for her. But mistakenly getting caught on the wrong side of the law wasn't exactly how she wanted to get his attention. Enter Chrysanthemum "Chrissy" Everstar, Tansy's fairy in shining, er, high heels. Chrissy is only a fair godmother, of course, so Tansy's three wishes don't exactly go according to plan. And if bringing Robin Hood to the twenty-first century isn't bad enough for Tansy, being transported back to the Middle Ages to deal with Rumpelstiltskin certainly is. She'll need the help of her blended family, her wits, and especially the cute police chief 's son to stop the gold-spinning story from spinning wildly out of control. Janette Rallison pulls out all the stops in this fresh, fun-filled follow-up to the popular My Fair Godmother.


Love Janette's writing. She is funny, clever, witty, smart and a fantastic writer. I know her books will have be a clean read and have a moral. I can recommend her books to anyone from ages 11 to 101.
This time only two stories/fairy tales come to life: Robin Hood and Rumpelstiltskin. And another unsuspecting, cute, teen boy is taken along for a ride into another dimension from whence he can only leave if the teen girl can figure out how to leave.
The only problem with this book? Waiting for the next one!


I have a few favorite quotes from the story:

"By the time Tansy was twelve, she had worlds without number unfolded in her heart. And each on of them was built with the scaffolding of her father's voice (p. 4)."
"Oh, and recently there's been a ban on inserting yourself into the Twilight series. The Cullens are tired of different teenage girls pinging into their story every time they turn around (p. 47)."
"I thought after our conversation about Robin Hood's story, you would have learned that you can't trust writers. They're a shiftless and unreliable bunch who spend their time making stuff up (p. 170)."
"Women. This is why no one ever puts you in charge of wars, butchering animals, or assembling hockey teams (p. 182)."
"We should at least choose a name that works in the time period. Edward, or maybe Jacob..." "You are not naming our son after Twilight characters (p. 277)."
"You can't stick 'gorgeous' at the end of a stanza. Nothing rhymes with it." Friar Tuck frowned. "Poor us." Will added, "More fuss." Little John grumbled. "Boar pus (p. 310).""

Rating PG

Want to buy it:


25% test (page 85):
"I called the police. Those calls are always recorded."
Even better. They had a soundtrack of the whole thing too. I leaned my head against my locker. Did surveillance tapes ever end up on YouTube?
"You obviously knew those guys. Who are they? Friends form New York out here to visit you in the hick town?"
I ignored him, pulled my books out of my backpack, and put them on my locker shelf.
"Why the swords?" he asked. "What are they trying to prove?"
I hung my backpack on its hook, then took my history book from the shelf. I went to shut my locker door, bu Hudson put his hand on it to force me to look at him. "If you cared about hose guys, you would help us stop them before a few get shot. That's how a lot of armed robberies end up: with the bad guys leaking blood onto the pavement."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I knew." I pulled my locker door away from him and shut it. "And I was trying to reason with them, trying to get them to stop robbing places. But I can't do that anymore, thanks to you. My father is keeping me under lock and key from now on."
Hudson ignored my complaints. "What wouldn't I believe?"
"I just need a little time to take care of them." I said. Surely, Chrissy would check in on me today. I still had two wishes left. She had to come back sometime to grant them. "Could you talk to your father and make sure the police don't shoot anybody before I can get rid of them?"
"What wouldn't I believe?" Hudson asked again.
I hesitated, then told him. "It's Robin Hod and the Merry Men."
"Robin Hood?" Hudson ran a hand across my locker door, tapping it in annoyance. "Sure he is. But what did I expect from you? You girls all think the guy is dreamy."
"I wouldn't exactly describe him as dreamy.' I tucked my book under my arm. "Buff, yes. Handsome, I suppose.Daring..."

HOW TO TAKE THE EX OUT OF EX-BOYFRIEND by Janette Rallison

Boyfriends are supposed to be loyal, caring, and handsome. Giovanna's boyfriend, Jesse, has perfected the last two. But when her twin brother, Dante, runs for student body president, Jesse doesn't support Dante, choosing to campaign for his opponent instead. Shouldn't the fact that Jesse is Giovanna's boyfriend count for something? So Giovanna dumps Jesse and becomes Dante's campaign manager. But as the political debates heat up, Giovanna begins to regret breaking up with Jesse, and realizes that maybe her decision wasn't the political strategy she should have used . . . .

I LOVE JANETTE RALLISON'S BOOKS! And that's my review!

Rating: CLEAN

Page 69 test:
"...few steps away to take the call in private while I stared at my shoes and wondered if it wold be lethal to eat a pair.
I mean, let's face it. There was a much greater chance that I'd be sawing up a pair of high heels than there was that Jesse would e chewing down chunks of his cowboy boots.""Giovanna!" Jesse motioned me over to where he stood and pushed the mute button on his phone. "I thought it was Dante, but actually it's your stepmom." One of his eyebrows rose, and he tilted his head at me. "Do you have any idea why she would holler at me for being with you at the mall?"
"She's pretty much psychotic," I said.
"Could it be you didn't tell her you were coming here?"
"Well, that too."
He shook his head and handed me the phone.
I released the mute button and held the phone to my ear. "Hello?"
That's really all I got to say. The rest of the phone conversation was Gabby screaming at me because she'd come home early in order to supervise the garage cleanup, and I'd disobeyed her and gone off the the mall.
"Don't think there won't be consequences for running of with your boyfriend after I told you that you couldn't..."

My Double life by Janette Rallison

Her whole life, Alexia Garcia has been told that she looks just like pop star Kari Kingsley, and one day when Alexia’s photo filters through the Internet, she’s offered a job to be Kari’s double. This would seem like the opportunity of a lifetime, but Alexia’s mother has always warned her against celebrities.

Rebelliously, Alexia flies off to L.A. and gets immersed in a celebrity life. Not only does she have to get used to getting anything she wants, she romances the hottest lead singer on the charts, and finds out that her own father is a singing legend. Through it all, Alexia must stay true to herself, which is hard to do when you are pretending to be somebody else!

If you ever need a funny, clean, romantic story all you have to do is fine 'Rallison, Janette' on your library shelf or at the book store.
Alexia wants to met her father and for just one day, make money for college and see what it's like to be famous.
But a celebrities life is not as glamorous as it seems.
She's pushed around, threatened, trained like a show dog and hurt.
And she falls for a hot superstar who thinks she is someone she isn't. And her lies are about to catch up with her.
I love the way Janette weaves her stories and characters. Her stories are uplifting, clean, genuine, intriguing and funny. She is one of my favorite authors.

Rating PG
S: None
V: Things thrown, someone slapped, scary mean lady
L: None