Want to go Private?, by Sarah Littleman

Abby is starting her first year of high school, and no one seems to understand why she is less than thrilled about it. No one, that is, except Luke, a boy she begins chatting with on a website aimed at teens. When Abby's best friend Faith starts to pull away from her, she begins confiding in and depending on Luke more and more as her sole source of comfort and support.  The two begin a serious online relationship, despite a huge age difference, and before long, Luke begins to ask Abby to do some questionable things.  Wrapped up in Luke, Abby begins to slip in her classes, which gets her grounded.  She decides to teach her parents a lesson, and runs off to meet Luke, her secret boyfriend.  She has no idea what she is in for.

This book is truly, truly, frightening.  It actually made me a little bit sick to read it, because I know without a doubt these things happen every moment of every day.  When I first moved out on my own, and had no real friends where I was living, I started to try to connect with people online.  It  became very apparent that so many men will prey on vulnerable, lonely women and girls online, targeting those with low self esteem.  I was shocked at the suggestive things many men did and said to me, and I can only imagine the situation is much worse and more manipulative when it involves a child.  So, this book stirred powerful feeling in me, which is a sign that this book is important.

For the reader, it may be easy to see what Luke is doing to Abby, and where this is headed, but it is also easy to see why so many young girls fall into this trap.  Who does not, as a tween or teen, want to be told she is beautiful, sexy, special, loved?  Even adult women fall prey to this, so it is easy to see why Abby, a trusting young girl, could get so caught up.  I am also glad that the book really accurately portrayed how the situation affected the whole family for month afterward.  Often we hear the horror stories, and the seemingly happy endings, but we rarely see the fall out and long term resolution.

I cannot stress enough how good and important this book is.  Yes, it is a delicate matter, and yes, online sexual predators are frightening to think about.  The language in this book, and some of the scenes described,are really difficult to read.  However, this is a young adult book, one I think appropriate.  I would caution parents to either read it before hand to determine their level of comfort with their child reading it, or read it at the same time as their child, and talk about it afterwards.  It is a powerful cautionary tale.

I received a review copy of this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.

Goodnight Tweetheart, by Teresa Medeiros

Abigail is a writer, trying hard to keep from becoming a one hit wonder.  Her publicist signs her up for Twitter, in the hopes that Abigail will be able to read more readers.  Instead, Abigail meets Mark, a man with whom she begins an online relationship.  But, as with so many online meetings, things are not exactly as Mark described.  What secrets is he hiding, and how will Abigail respond?

I am so glad that this book came out now, as opposed to a couple of years ago.  I used to think Twitter was the stupidest thing ever invented, so had I encountered this book back in those days, I would not have been interested.  But as a reformed Twitterphile, this book came to me at the perfect time, and actually stoked the fires of my Twitter love.

I adored the characters of Abigail and Mark, and it was so fun to watch their romance blossom.  As someone who found true love online, I was reminded of so many fun moments, hard moments, and butterfly in the tummy moments that happened much like they did in the book.

I actually think  the premise of the book is quite clever, and I love that much of what we read is the tweet conversations between the two characters.  It gives a nice voyeuristic feel that so many fans of social media find comforting, and really draws you in to the story.

Fans of romance will love this book, it is such a sweet romantic story.  And those who, like me, love social media will probably like the unique premise of the book.  It is pretty tame, so it would even be suitable for high school aged readers, who are much more likely to be tech savvy.

I received a touring copy of this book from Crazy Book Tours.

I Has a Hot Dog, by Professor Happycat

Have you ever wondered what your, or any, dog was really thinking?  This book spells it out for you.  Tons of pictures of adorable dogs with cute, clever, funny, and ridiculous captions that perfectly capture the dog's sentiments comprise this cute little tome.  Common themes are how dogs can get food, how cute they are, and getting away with bad behavior.

Long a fan of the Lolcats and Loldogs, as well as the many other websites that are a part of the I Can Has Cheezeburger Network, it should come as no surprise that I am also a huge fan of their merchandise and books.  Hubby bought be Lolcat and Failblog merchandise for our first Christmas, which I loved, and I was totally stoked when I won this book to review.  And of course, it did not disappoint.  As a matter of fact, my head just about exploded from all the cute.

This is not the kind of book one can just jump into; you should have some kind of background knowledge of the internet sensation known as Loldogs before buying it, otherwise you will not appreciate the book as much.  Yes the dogs will still be adorable, but you will be confused by the captions, which are often misspelled and grammatically incorrect.  It is just one of those internet meme things, either you get it or you don't.  But when you do, you love it, and will love this book.  Regardless though, the pictures are ridiculously awesome, and make this book a total win for any pet lover.  At this great price, it makes a good stocking stuffer for the dog lover that on your holiday list.

5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides), by Matthew Inman

Ever need to learn the different types of handshakes or hugs?  Need to know the warning signs of a loved one planning to eat you?  Want to know how beer is made?  Then this is the book for you!  Matthew Inman, the mind behind The Oatmeal, had written a book with lots of standard favorites from The Oatmeal website, as well as some all new material, which has been compiled in this useful and attractive guide.  Also doubles as a drink coaster.

I am a big fan of ridiculous humor websites, and an even bigger fan of the masterminds behind the websites producing books.  So it comes as no surprise that this book literally rocked my socks off.  Seriously.  Socks....on the floor....and not my feet.  I started reading this book late one night, while sitting in bed.  Big mistake.  I was nearly choking from swallowing my laughter so as to not wake my sleeping husband.  Not that he would have minded, he is also a big fan of The Oatmeal.  I mean, who would not be.

Granted, some of the humor is maybe a little off color, a little warped, and a little obscure, but that is what makes it so darn brilliant.  It is unique and I absolutely love Inman's drawings.  That is half the fun, looking at the hysterical pictures.  This is a nice short read, I was done in a little over an hour, but a book I would gladly read again, whenever I was having a bad day, because it definitely made me laugh.  Also, it taught me the right way to spell definitely.  You will have to read it to know what that means.

A review copy of this book was made available through NetGalley.

Everything is Wrong With Me, by Jason Mulgrew

Note- full title of the book is Everything is Wrong With Me: A Memoir of an American Childhood Gone, Well, Wrong

Jason Mulgrew's special Philly blend of snark grew from his blog, and eventually developed into this memoir of growing up in Philly in the 80's and 90's. It speaks to me because, well, I am the same age, I live in Pennsylvania, and I am a voracious blogger. So, for those aspects alone, I was bound to love this book.

I actually found this book to be much tamer than I expected. When the jacket warns that people who grow up like this tend to be agoraphobic or serial killers, I think one expects something a little more sensational. Not that this is a puff piece, I mean, his childhood included a broken home (his words, not mine), a family affinity for the drink (they are Irish, not alcoholics), and a genetic predisposition for illegal activities (running numbers, selling illegal fireworks). But, I mean, this is Philly we are talking about, so I guess I just sort of expected a lot of this. Had he grown up in Santa Monica then maybe this blue collar-ness would be a bit more shocking.

What I instead found it to be was heartfelt and honest. With a lot of swear words and references to masturbation sprinkled in. But hey, that is what growing up is for many many boys. As the youngest child, with no close neighbors, little boys were a mystery to me. I grew up in a rural area, where we did not have a neighborhood of sorts, so Jason's tales of boyishness were actually pretty charming. Mind you, I would never want my children emulating him, but it was pretty entertaining to read. My favorite part of the book was when he talked about his family's history of participating in the Mummers Day Parade. It was told with such pride. Actually, the whole book has a bit of an air of pride to it. Pride of family, pride of being a Second Streeter, pride of being from Philly, pride of being a boy.

If you like snark, and let's face it, who secretly doesn't, and if you have ever almost choked on your Diet Pepsi because you were laughing so hard over an episode of It's Almost Sunny in Philadelphia, then I guarantee, you will love this book.

This book is from my personal library.
 

Wanted: Bear Cubs for My Children, by Gary Fingercastle

* Note- Full book title is Wanted: Bear Cubs for My Children. One Hundred of the Weirdest Posts Ever Seen on Craigslist (and Their Responses).

I will admit it. I am a sucker for snark. I especially love snarky websites. The really viral ones, like LOLCats, and Lamebook. I know it is not right to make fun of people, and I often feel pretty darn guilty about it, but sometimes I just can not help it. I am only human after all.

My husband knows my affinity for snark, so he knew this book would be right up my alley.

Basically, this author, Gary Fingercastle, used his evil genius to create fake (and completely ridiculous) listings on Craigslist, to see if people would respond. And boy, howdy, did they respond.

A few times, people may have questioned the legitimacy of the postings, but for every person who was suspicious, I would bet there were 10 responders who were not. Fingercastle varied the types of language used, types of postings placed, and used misspellings to blend in with the online community, so people would not connect all the posts to the same person. The whole thing was really a brilliant exercise in what people are willing to do, willing to buy, or willing to take if offered for free. My favorite postings included in the book were a request for someone to "live my life for 6 months", someone requesting to be made into a giant sandwich, and someone trying to give away a free cutout of Pauley Shore.

The book is lighthearted and hilarious, and an excellent reminder to: 1. not take things so seriously, and 2. be careful of that crap on Craigslist.