Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

So I was away last week on vacation in Maine, where I had no access to the internet whatsoever. Instead, I had my good friend (she made me write that), NickDing, write that previous post, as you might have guessed. But I'm back now, and ready to jump back into the world of book reviewing!

But first, let's talk about beauty queens and pageants. Gosh, how I hate those things; they are terribly demeaning to females, not to mention they take away from things that really matter. Like war, like getting help for the poor. Like family and living until you're so filled up with being alive you just float away. I've always thought of beauty queens as stuck-up snobs; as those girls that you hate because they are just so loud, not in volume but in presence, the girls that are obsessed with whether they look good or not.
And then I read this book.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
 If you were to judge this book by it's bikini-clad cover, you're likely to imagine it's a frivolous and somewhat cheesy tale of beauty queens fighting over who will win the prized crown.
But, oh, my dear, dear readers, it is nothing like that at all.
50 teenage beauty queens, publicists, and chaperons are all in a plane flying to a remote tropical paradise where they can practice before they battle for the title of "Miss Teen Dream." Filled with excitement, not scared at all.
Then, the plane crashes on a supposedly deserted island in the middle of the ocean. Only 13 girls have survived the crash; no one else. Together, they have to figure out how to survive on the island; though some--Taylor Hawkins, a.k.a. Miss Texas, in particular-- believe they should continue to prepare for the pageant instead of trying to survive.

The girls build huts, discover who they are, save pirates, and save themselves from the Corporation, the people who are sponsoring the pageant, and who want them dead.
Most importantly, though, they save themselves from themselves.

This looks like a trashy beach read (though, let's face it, we all need those).
This isn't a trashy beach read; this is a novel rich with feminism, with empowering girls, with displaying the inequality that is still experienced by females across the globe. It's riddled with humor, suspense, and mystery.

If Lord of the Flies had girls instead of boys, it might have turned out a bit like this.

What are you still doing here? Go out and get a copy today!

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

Nearly as riveting the second time I read it, Bloody Jack took my breath away again. A quick but sophisticated read, this historical fiction action thriller is perfect for most audiences. Mary Jacky Faber is a orphaned teenage girl in the early to mid 1700's wishing for a better life. When the leader of her gang of orphans if murdered by the evil Muck, Jacky reaches her boiling point of being a beggar and decides to leave the gang. After a few days of traveling and disguising herself as a boy, Jacky works her way onto the HMS Dolphin as a ships boy using her rare ability to read. Once there, she must learn the ways of the sea, different then anything she's ever done before. ***Important note. The first few chapters of this book are rather dreadful because of the old english and solumness. Do not let it scare you! It's really a great book!

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

There are books that amaze you, and books that you abhor. And then there are the books that pick you up off your feet and shake you around, introduce new ideas, possibilities, feelings, to you. Books that snatch your breath away. I'm glad to say that this coming-of-age novel is one of the ones that will be remembered forever, having changed a mindset. 


Lily Owens killed her mother when she was a small youth, and has since been forced to live with T.Ray, her abusive father on their old peach farm with only a black lady, Rosaleen, as a friend. 
Of course, there is those few possessions of her mother's, one of which is a picture of the black Madonna, Tibourn, South Carolina, scrawled on the back. When Lily turns 14 and Rosaleen is arrested for spitting on a white man's shoe--the novel is set in the 1960s--and then beaten up in jail, Lily kidnaps Rosaleen from jail and, together, they embark on a journey to Tibourn. Once there, Lily and Rosaleen locate the bee ladies--three black sisters, August, June, and May--whose honey is represented by the same black Madonna that was Lily's mother's. They allow the two to stay there for the summer. 


This is a story of racial triumph, of empowering women, of slight love and of the places we call home. 

Welcome!

Hello there, and welcome to the Book Birdie! I would be the Birdie in question, and I'm here to be your guide in the book world. Every week, I'll review at least one book for your enjoyment, possibly--hopefully--more. 

I suppose you probably want to know a bit more about myself. 

Let's see: I'm a secret agent working for a top secret government agency that no one knows about and I'm at the top of the class. 

What? You think I'm lying? That I wouldn't put information up like that on the internet if it was true?

Yeah, you're right. 

But isn't it a funny thing, how we will put anything on the internet, able to claim it's false at a moment's notice with our words. But what if it was true? What if I was actually a detective for a branch of government disguised as a chain of delis? I mean, I'm not--let's face it, that's impossible--but wouldn't it be so cool?

This is what the slogan for the Book Birdie was going to be:

Books for teens reviewed by teens!

But that is utterly cheesy. And I'm not a fan of cheese. So here's what the slogan actually is:

Great, right?

In the event you were wondering what sort of book and movie genres--have I mentioned that I will be covering movies and such, as well, too?--will be covered, never fear, dozens of mystery, crime, romance, adventure, fantasy, sci-fi, and so much more. Of course, the majority of this will be the sub-genres of the major heading 'young adult.'

Though, we all know that there is so much better writing when all the world's books are opened up to you. 

Anyways, sit back, relax, and take a spin around this blog; get inspired by the reviews, feel that longing build up inside you until you have to jump up and go and read the actual book. Enjoy, and don't forget to live, to smell the roses and drink the hot chocolate.