The Firm by John Grisham

Wow, long book. I started this book last month before my birthday and I finished it after I finished all my library books, so it's been over a month of me reading this dang book! That made it hard to pick it back up again because I forgot all the main characters, so let's recap:
Mitch McDeere is fresh out of law school and still needs to take the bar exam, so he's lucky to get signed on to this huge, well-known law firm in Memphis. Everything seems to be perfect; he passed the bar exam with flying colors, he's got a new car and a big house and even a dog to complete the family picture; he and his wife Abby are even planning on starting a family there. Sure, Mitch has to work long hours at the firm and he has a crapload of work, but it's worth it.
But then everything falls apart. The FBI contacts Mitch and tells him that the firm he's working for is a coverup so the Mafia doesn't have to do their taxes. And if Mitch can get the dirty files to the FBI, they can indict every major player in the Mafia game. But Mitch has discovered that the firm isn't that easy to deceive... they've been bugging his home, following him, and doing everything to keep him in control.
And then there's Mitch's brother in jail, too, who also plays a key role later in the book.
So that's the basic plotline, read for yourself to see if he can pull it off. I gotta say, there are a few things I don't like in general about John Grisham books.
a) They all seem to be about the Mafia.
b) The major action only happens in the last hundred pages or so.
c) There are way too many characters sometimes, and it's hard to figure out who's cop, who's lawyer, who's Mafia, who's victim, and who's random hobo.
But yeah, I still like The Client more. ♠♠

MEG CABOT HAS BEEN REINCARNATED! *Mastercard!*

Yes, into the form of young adult author Michele Jaffe. The two authors are actually pretty good friends, too, which explains why their writing styles are so similar. Which, in turn, explains why I loved Jaffe's book, Bad Kitty.
The whole cat+mystery thing totally suggests Pink Panther, but it's so NOT. Meet Jas, short for Jasmine, who straight-off-the-bat admits she has no superpower. Except maybe that cats like her, which explains how she got into the mess that she's in.
Because while Jas and her family were on vacation, her cat superpower just decided to send out a signal or a beacon or something, so while Jas was sitting by the pool in a cute bikini, an angry cat pounced onto her chest. Next thing she knew, this Terminator-esque dude with a gun wearing nothing but a Speedo comes up and asks for the cat back. This is followed by a little kid who tells Jas to RUN, OTHERWISE THE CAT'S IN TROUBLE! Jas runs away from that pool area into the next one (because, you know, resorts in Vegas have a few pools, usually) where a wedding happens to be taking place. Jas finds herself knocking the five-tiered wedding cake and the bride into the pool. And the groom didn't even jump in and try to play off the situation!
Okay, right here in the book was where I started to crack up. I mean, come on, that situation is ridiculously funny. Especially when you read about it in the book.
Next Jas is taken to a holding cell in resort security, where she finds out she's off the hook; because the parent of that boy whose cat she rescued? She's a famous model and she wants to thank Jas for saving the cat.
Another aspect of this book is that Jas is doing a project for her English class, where she keeps a journal of all the "little life lessons" she learns over the summer. So this is what she got out of this situation...

"Little Life Lesson 2: A good way to ensure you will never have a boyfriend is to have a large armed man with an uncertain grasp of English heckle you in public.
Little Life Lesson 3: If for some reason the guy might still be interested, following up by having your father rush over right afterward screaming, 'Jasmine, you know you are not allowed to talk to strangers!' as though you were six will nip it in the bud. Oh, and it helps if your father is wearing a safari suit. With shorts. And knee socks. Because this is his idea of what you wear in the desert."
(pg. 15)

See that? I was laughing by page 15, and I don't laugh easily, usually. (Although I did cry reading the last Harry Potter book...) And you can also see how similar this author is to Meg Cabot. They have the same quirks, and same superpower of being able to write from the point of view of a bubbly, sarcastic, quirky teenager.
So yeah, back to the summary.
After she gets out of jail, Jas' father tells her no more getting involved in other people's business. So, of course, like any other normal teen, she goes out clubbing with her bratty cousin and her bratty cousin's airheaded friend. This starts a whirlwind of a mystery that Jas can't help but get involved in, no matter what her father, The Thwarter, says. In fact, Jas gets her friends on her side; they drive down to help her. So Jas, her prissy best friend Polly, her random, zany friend Roxy, and Roxy's cute, totally-meant-for-Polly brother Tom, and her bratty cousin+bratty cousin's friend all go out to solve the big mystery: who is threatening the model, why didn't she make a fuss about the Bad Kitty incident?
And halfway through the book we come to this point:

"Four things were immediately clear to me:
1. I was going to die of embarrassment.
2. After I did that, I was going to have to find Polly and kill her for making my dress so short.
3. Twice.
4. I was never buying Muppet underwear again."
(pg. 161)

Yeah, now you gotta read, because you have to see what situation Jas could have possibly gotten herself into involving a short dress and Muppet underwear. YOU'D BE SURPRISED.
The other cool part is how in the footnotes of this story (yes, another great book with footnotes, I love it!) Jas, Polly, Roxy, Tom, and occasionally said bratty cousin's best friend all converse about the book. You wouldn't believe how lifelike the characters get, the argue just like Cara and I argue, or Melissa and Holly and me or something.
This book is SO Mastercard for Cabot friends. (Mastercard=priceless.) I must read more by Michele Jaffe, I hear she has adult mystery novels too... ♠♠♠♠♠

Beauty Shop For Rent-- Fully Equipped, Inquire Within

This is actually the title of the book. Pretty interesting, huh? That's what made me check it out from the library.
This book is about Abbey, who lives with her great-grandma Po in their house/beauty parlor. The beauty parlor is old and has seen better days, but it's the cherished meeting place of Granny Po's friends, called the Gray Widows because all of them have gray hair and dead husbands. The thing is, Granny Po needs money, so they have to rent out the beauty parlor. This is when Gena enters the picture. She loves the beauty parlor and promises to keep it mostly the same with some minor renovations. She also gives most of the Widows jobs that help them discover their passions in life again, which wins over Granny Po. Slowly Gena helps these grumpy old ladies become enthusiastic individuals again.
But that's just the major overview; Abbey's got tons more in this book. You see, Abbey's plan is to be a millionaire by age 35, and she's got an investment plan and everything. Already she has over 7 grand, and she's barely fifteen. But why is she doing this? Because every other woman in her family (her grumpy granny, her suicidal grandmother, and her deadbeat, clinically depressed mother) were failures, and she wants to be the one to break the cycle. But her will is tested when her mother comes around, with promises of a beach house they could own if they had the money (which Abbey has...) and a new life together where everything would be perfect, just the two of them. So Abbey gives her mother her money, and poof! her mother disappears. This starts a whole chain of sad events in this book, the least of which is when Abbey's best friend/crush, Mitch, and she have a fallout.
This book was really good and entertaining, with a unique storyline. I've read stories where teens work hard for something they really want and have to learn to chill a little, but none where the main character works in a beauty shop and has such high hopes for 20 years down the lines.
I especially love stories like this where a main character like Abbey is a really serious teenager and acts totally adult through the whole book, because it seems so backwards but also reminds us all that we all have a little bit of that solemn, responsible person inside of us no matter what age we are. But when Abbey finds that she can chill and have fun, it reminds us we have a bit of that, too. ♠♠♠♠

M or F?

No, this does not stand for male or female but for Marcus or Frannie. Let me try to explain this: this is one of the most confusing romantic comedy novels I have EVER read, but it was GREAT. And normally I don't tell the whole story, only a basic summary that keeps you hanging so the book isn't forever ruined on here, but for this book I will make an exception and tell all because it was so good.
Frannie and Marcus are best friends. Marcus is gay, but they are both looking for love. Marcus tries to help Frannie find her crush online by chatting with him, and his name is Jeffrey. So they chat with him and Frannie goes on a few dates with him and has a great time, although Jeffrey sort of refuses to make a move. Meanwhile Marcus keeps chatting online with Jeffrey pretending to be Frannie WITHOUT FRANNIE KNOWING.
Suddenly Marcus realizes HE likes Jeffrey. A lot. And Frannie finds out about Marcus chatting with Jeffrey and they havre a fight. That's when Frannie starts to think maybe JEFFREY could be gay, and she decides to test this. So she makes hot chocolate, lights a few candles, and puts on a nightie (yes, a NIGHTIE) to impress Jeffrey, only when he comes over and she tries to make a move he barfs practically on her lap, and she realizes he must definitely be gay.
So now Frannie and Marcus are friends again and Frannie is trying to hook Jeffrey up with Marcus. Also, there seems to be a connection going on between Frannie and Jeffrey's best friend Glenn. So Marcus 'accidentally' ditches the movies to leave Glenn and Frannie on their own, and he goes to meet up with Jeffrey and maybe see if he can get up his nerve to tell him how he feels because he thinks Jeffrey's gay.
This is where the MAJOR PLOT TWIST comes in. When Frannie realizes she's being set up with Glenn she tells Glenn this. Glenn's reply? "I'm gay, didn't you know?" And Frannie also figures out that they were wrong about Jeffrey, and that he wasn't gay, just shy. So they rush up to where Jeffrey and Marcus are sitting, right when Marcus is about to put a move on Jeffrey, and Frannie breaks it up!
Now comes the huge surprise: Jeffrey hadn't really been on the chat room, either. Glenn had been chatting for Jeffrey, so basically Glenn and Marcus had been chatting under the names of Jeffrey and Frannie, and they're PERFECT for each other!
Jeffrey and Frannie, however, realize they weren't meant to be, although Jeffrey really liked Frannie. But Frannie does end up with someone... and that's where I leave off.
This book is really confusing at parts, especially because right where you think you know where it's going, you get COMPLETELY turned around and facing the other direction. But it was a good read, and I swear on George's ear that it was laugh-out-loud funny. I was cracking up in the corner of my living room while my family was watching the World Series, and I looked like an idiot. But anyway: ♠♠♠♠

Aimee by Mary Beth Miller

Geez, what a depressing book. You may not get the cover art when you first pick up the book; I know I didn't. But let me just say it has several symbolic meanings, all of which include spoilers, so read the book if you're that curious.
Aimee is actually told from the point of view of Aimee's best friend, whose name remains unknown till the end of the book, practically. We do discover her nickname is JK (which has got to suck) but her name is kept a secret, which I thought was pretty interesting, especially for the author to even think of that.
Anyway this girl who remains unnamed was best friends with Aimee. I say was because Aimee is dead. She committed suicide and this girl is accused of helping her. The book takes place after the trial where she is acquitted, and she's trying to piece her life back together with her shrink and her journal. So slowly we start to see where Aimee went wrong through her best friend's journal. These flashes into the past get very intriguing and disturbing to read as you keep on, just a warning, although they're still good and a bit heartbreaking at parts.
The best friend is also not allowed to talk to any of her old friends from the pre-Aimee-death days, I guess because their parents were afraid she'd "help" kill them too. So this girl becomes friends with a girl at her new school who also has suicidal issues. (Don't the suicidal people always seem to be magnetized towards each other in books?) Her name is Hope, and she has an extremely twisted family life. This girl has to discover what she can do to help and how she failed Aimee, basically.
This book deals with some interesting issues on how humans affect each other. Like, if your friend says they need help when really they needed it a long time ago and you just kept pretending everything was okay and by the time you stopped pretending it was too late. And also how technically you can be trying to help but really just hurting, and sometimes the best thing to do is involve someone else while other times it's simply not needed.
But yes, this book was very depressing-- I mean, look at the subject matter-- but it has some great issues that make you think about what you would do in the situation this girl was in. Or Aimee, for that matter. ♠♠♠