Review: How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain
From Goodreads: David Gershwin’s summer is about to take a turn for the weird. When his dad’s new patient Zelda tells him she s from outer space and on a quest to take Johnny Depp back to her planet, he knows he should run away screaming. But with one look from her mean, green eyes, David’s hooked, and soon he’s leaping across rooftops, running from police, and stealing cars just to stay by her side. He might not be a typical hero, but David’s going to get the girl even if it takes him to the ends of the earth—or beyond.
I was given this book on a tour of Chronicle Books in San Francisco that I took with Lenore and several other bloggers. I was immediately drawn to the book because of it’s great hitchhiker-esque cover and fabulous title.
I began reading How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend at a theme park. I finished half of the book in the few hours at the park taking in the looks of disbelief that someone could have fun reading in a place with so much to do. I don’t do coasters people. However I think the carnival music and massive amounts of people floating around me on the super warm spring day added to the ambiance of reading this book.
How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend is everything you think it will be from the title. We have fourteen year old French David who is schooled in the ways of love and mental illness staying with his dad at his house in the countryside when Zelda shows up. Zelda is very violent and believes she is from another planet and needs to find her mate (who turns out to be Johnny Depp of course) before time runs out and her key to her home planet is lost forever.
At first David thinks she is interesting although crazy and he spends his time trying to get her to admit she is just another chick in love with Johnny Depp. As time goes on however David begins to believe Zelda’s claims and becomes her Pudin (helper sounds like Pudding) and the book takes off at a break-neck pace to the conclusion.
We meet some incredibly interesting characters along the way. David’s Mom who is the atypical French Dragon Woman stereotype who is incredibly violent to her boyfriend and David himself. David’s step sister who was thrown out of the house at sixteen by Dragon Mother. Aliens from Zelda’s planet who failed and lost their key home.
This book is fast paced, fun and a great comedic sci fi for younger readers. I can’t wait to buy a finished copy and read it all over again.
Review: Girl Parts by John Cusick
Goodreads: “Hello, David. My name is Rose. It’s a pleasure to meet you. We are now entering minute two of our friendship. According to my Intimacy Clock, a handshake is now appropriate…”
David and Charlie are opposites. David has a million friends, online and off. Charlie is a soulful outsider, off the grid completely. But neither feels close to anybody. When David’s parents present him with a hot Companion bot to encourage healthy bonds and treat “dissociative disorder,” he can’t get enough of luscious red-headed Rose — and he can’t get it soon. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Severed from the boy she was built to love, Rose turns to Charlie, who finds he can open up, knowing Rose isn’t real. With Charlie’s help, the ideal “companion” is about to become her own best friend.
In a stunning and hilarious debut, John Cusick takes rollicking aim at internet culture and our craving for meaningful connection in an uber-connected world.
I read Girl Parts a while back. It was part of a package from Candlewick that included quite a few titles. I had many other things that needed to be read at the moment but the cover and synopsis pulled me in and I devoured Girl Parts in a day. John Cusick has a fantastic understanding of teens and the way they live in this technological age. The story albeit fiction was completely believable.
You start to understand David through Rose his companion bot. You can see the struggles David is dealing with in every day life even though he is one of the more popular kids in school. I love that Rose even though she is a bot becomes self aware and begins to question everything.
Rose’s struggle to self awareness is parallel to the struggle of a teen girl trying to find herself. I loved the symbolism in this book.
The company that makes Rose and the other models of companions has some secrets to tell. I hope we find out more in the second book! You should really check out the book website. It is full of win. Sakora: Solutions for Life.
Book Trailer for Girl Parts by John Cusick
FTC Disclosure: (Lame) I received this book for review from Candlewick Press.
Review: Fallen by Lauren Kate
I picked up this book after reading great reviews, not so great reviews, and more reviews on top of reviews. I in the end purchased it due to the awesome ad campaign the publisher had running during The Vampire Diaries on CW. I thought the book trailer fit perfect with the theme and feel of the show and I immediately ordered it from Amazon. I pushed it to the top of my to read pile and finished it up a couple of days ago.
In Fallen we follow Luce (Lucinda) who is a troubled teen. Something happened to a boy she was alone with in her Upper East Coast boarding school, and she has been seeing therapists for years. Luce sees shadows, especially when she is around nature. Her parents get fed up take her back down South to Georgia and throw her in a school for troubled teens. At Sword and Cross Luce is loathe to give up her cell phone but quickly gets over it as she has the attention of the two hottest guys on the campus. Supposedly she feels this incredible guilt for what happened when she was alone with the boy from her old school, but that guilt was lost on me when she started macking on these guys.
Cam is sweet and thoughtful, buys her presents and is always there for her. She leads him on through out the book. David is mean to the point of cruelty so of course that’s who she is in love with. At times she thinks he sparkles with a violet light but she can’t quite figure it out.
I read this book in two days. It’s pretty long. I am quite the evangelist for longer teen books (Beautiful Creatures), but this book was just page after page of nothingness. There is no crescendo just plotted out day to day to day life until in the last chapter or two BOOM here is the mystery solved when you solved it yourself before you read it due to the prologue, which in my opinion was the best part of this book. It was long and drawn out. I couldn’t connect to any character in any way. I will read the second one to see if any of these problems are solved for me. If you liked Hush, Hush then you probably will like Fallen.
