Review: Saving Max by Antoinette Van Heugten

Description: Max Parkman;autistic and whip-smart, emotionally fragile and aggressive—is perfect in his mother’s eyes. Until he's accused of murder.
Attorney Danielle Parkman knows her teenage son Max’s behavior has been getting worse—using drugs and lashing out. But she can't accept the diagnosis she receives at a top-notch adolescent psychiatric facility that her son is deeply disturbed. Dangerous.

Until she finds Max, unconscious and bloodied, beside a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death.

Trapped in a world of doubt and fear, barred from contacting Max, Danielle clings to the belief that her son is innocent. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her son really a killer?

With the justice system bearing down on them, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth, no matter what it is. She’ll do whatever it takes to find the killer and to save her son from being destroyed by a system that’s all too eager to convict him
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Review:  Here (WARNING, MAJOR SPOILER) IF YOU ARE GOING TO READ THIS BOOK, DO NOT READ THIS.
(NO SPOILERS HERE) I loved the book, great pace, the suspence was really great. the end was surprising. great details. I could not put it down. (I read on the authors blog and she said she is working on a sequel. I CAN NOT wait for that!)

5 out of 5 Stars
Read: August. 20, 2013 - August 22, 2013 2:20am

Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Description: It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

My Review: I love everything about it, how its about games from the 80's, the whole plot, the characters, the romance, the humor, the details, the information (the was a lot of info, but to me it wasn't useless info), the author because he must of had to research all this 80's stuff unless he already knew stuff. Love the Game Action. I love when Aech and Wade met. And when Wade and Art3mis met, that was cute. Love the happy ending. I love the Oasis (being inside a game would be cool plus virtual school and all that other stuff that was mentioned in OASIS) but it's was kinda crazy how Wade can just lock himself inside all day without going out in the real world but people do, do that in real life too. But he found Love so he wouldn't spend all his time in OASIS anymore. Anyways, If you are a game nerd or just a nerd, this book is for you. Again, I LOVE THIS BOOK!

5 out of 5 stars

Read: July. 17 - July. 22 , 2013

Review: Golden Boy

Description: The Walker family is good at keeping secrets from the world. They are even better at keeping them from each other.

Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he's the perfect son, the perfect friend, and the perfect crush for the girls in his school. He's even really nice to his little brother. Karen, Max's mother, is a highly successful criminal lawyer, determined to maintain the façade of effortless excellence she has constructed through the years. Now that the boys are getting older, now that she won’t have as much control, she worries that the façade might soon begin to crumble. Adding to the tension, her husband, Steve, has chosen this moment to stand for election to Parliament. The spotlight of the media is about to encircle their lives.

The Walkers are hiding something, you see. Max is special. Max is different. Max is intersex. When an enigmatic childhood friend named Hunter steps out of his past and abuses his trust in the worst possible way, Max is forced to consider the nature of his well-kept secret. Why won't his parents talk about it? What else are they hiding from Max about his condition and from each other? The deeper Max goes, the more questions emerge about where it all leaves him and what his future holds, especially now that he's starting to fall head over heels for someone for the first time in his life. Will his friends accept him if he is no longer the Golden Boy? Will anyone ever want him — desire him — once they know? And the biggest one of all, the question he has to look inside himself to answer: Who is Max Walker, really?

Written by twenty-five-year-old rising star Abigail Tarttelin, Golden Boy is a novel you'll read in one sitting but will never forget; at once a riveting tale of a family in crisis, a fascinating exploration of identity and a coming-of-age story like no other.

My Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I HATE IT. I JUST WANTED TO SKIP TO THE END TO READ WHAT HAPPENS TO MAX, BUT I KNOW I COULDN'T BECAUSE I WILL MISS SO MUCH. ALSO I JUST WANTED TO TELL THE CHARACTERS, LIKE MAX TO TELL HIS PARENTS AND KAREN TO STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE MEDIA. THAT'S HOW INTO THE BOOK I WAS.

I HATE THE SITUATION, ABOUT WHAT MAX AND HIS FAMILY HAS TO GO THROUGH, BUT I LOVE IT BECAUSE IT WAS GOOD. I LOVE THE CHARACTERS BUT KAREN ANNOYED ME IN THE BEGINING (SEE MY COMMENTS) I LOVE THE POV'S OF THE CHARACTERS. THE DIFFERENT PERSONALITY. DANIEL'S 10 YEAR OLD TO ARCHIE A DOCTOR TO MAX ETC.. IT IS WELL WRITTEN.

THIS REALLY HIT ME DEEP INSIDE. I THINK BECAUSE INTERSEX HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE AND PEOPLE GO THROUGH IT. BOOKS LIKE THIS (GBLT, DRUGS, CANCER) REALLY GETS ME THINKING BECAUSE LIKE I SAID THESE SITUATIONS HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE AND I'M ALWAYS CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE GO THROUGH.

*EDIT* THE ONE THING ON MY MIND IS WHY ARE THEY HAVING SEX SO YOUNG? SYLVIE IS 16 AND SHE ALREADY HAD SEX, SO SHE HAD TO BE 15 OR YOUNGER. MAX WAS 14 WHEN HE WAS MAKING OUT WITH A GIRL AND SHE ALMOST TOUCHED HIM. (ITS JUST ME BUT I REALLY HATE BOOKS ABOUT TEENAGE SEX AND PREGNACY, BUT THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT. I LOVE IT)

My thoughts while reading

• "Amazing start. A perfect family but they secrets or problems of there own. Love the details, I can imagine what's going on at the moment or what is in the room/outside."
• "*spoiler* I find Karen annoying. She worrys to much about being a good parent or a bad parent. She babies Max because of his condition. She doesn't give Daniel enough attention and she wonders why he acts up. I just want to tell her that Kids act up even if you are a good or bad parent. She also worries about to much of her and steve reputation to much. I know she want's to look good for the media but family is first"
• Max should tell his parents. His parents needs to stop pushing things aside. They need to tell him about intersex. He deserves to know what he is, wheater its good or bad."
• "OMG! It just got even better, I LOVE IT. I just want to skip everything and read the ending to see what happens. Poor MAX. And his mother Karen I don't like her. I said it before all she worries about the media finding out and she blames herself about Max. Like its not her fault her son is intersex. It happens to people. Also like Steve said she needs to stop protecting Max, she can't do it forever."
• all I can say is WOW. I started reading where I left off (pg.12-something at 2am and I just finshed at 6am. I couldn't put it down. I LOVED IT. 

5 out of 5 Stars!

Read: June.7 - June.10, 2013