Kimberly Pauley
Author of Sucks to Be Me
Series
Works by Kimberly Pauley
One Of The Boys 1 copy
A Family of Her Own 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1973-24-01
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Florida (BA|English)
- Organizations
- Young Adult Books Central
- Short biography
- Kimberly Pauley loves a good book you can sink your teeth into. She majored in English at the University of Florida and took as many classes in adolescent fiction (and science fiction) as she could find. As her alter-ego, the Young Adult Books Goddess of YA Books Central (yabookscentral.com), she has been reading and reviewing books since 1998 and meeting tons of great authors. Sucks to Be Me is her first novel, though she has published various poems and short stories over the years that she will even periodically admit to. She now lives in Illinois outside of Chicago with a husband who loves her even though he hasn’t read a young adult book since he was about twelve and can’t quite comprehend what the whole fuss is about, a brand-new baby boy already completely surrounded by children’s books, and two devious cats, one of which is a tub of lard.
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Illinois, USA
San Mateo, California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Sucks to be Me is the delightful narrative of Mina Hamilton, a snarky teen with a big decision to make: whether or not to join the ranks of the secretive vampires. She has to deal with a lot of issues, both normal and supernatural, including boy problems, vampire school, regular school, and prom! Imagine, having to make a life changing decision in a month with only your parents, your eccentric Uncle Mortie, and Grandma Wolfington (AKA Ms. Riley, vampire teacher) for guidance.
Mina is the show more definitive teenager, complete with gross outs and swoons over boys. She is instantly likeable from page one, with her insightful and funny outlook on life. She alludes to pop culture vampire lore like the Stephenie Meyer novels and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles throughout the novel. Also, Mina’s English class reads Dracula in the course of the novel, and she is outraged at how vampires and even women are portrayed in the novel. (I personally totally agree with her and think it’s a completely overrated novel.) The vampires are shrouded in secrecy, but are pretty normal underneath it all. Kimberly Pauley really reinvents vampire legend in a unique and fun way, not caving in to typical expectations.
Despite the comedic elements of the novel, there are some real issues underneath. When someone makes any decision in their lives, they need to make it for themselves, not their boyfriend or parents or their peers. This can translate to anyone, anywhere, in any situation. The novel also illustrates the importance of family: not just blood relatives, but the people that are most important to us in our lives.
This novel was cute, light, and funny mixed with a dash of seriousness and angst. I really hope it's the start of a series. show less
Mina is the show more definitive teenager, complete with gross outs and swoons over boys. She is instantly likeable from page one, with her insightful and funny outlook on life. She alludes to pop culture vampire lore like the Stephenie Meyer novels and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles throughout the novel. Also, Mina’s English class reads Dracula in the course of the novel, and she is outraged at how vampires and even women are portrayed in the novel. (I personally totally agree with her and think it’s a completely overrated novel.) The vampires are shrouded in secrecy, but are pretty normal underneath it all. Kimberly Pauley really reinvents vampire legend in a unique and fun way, not caving in to typical expectations.
Despite the comedic elements of the novel, there are some real issues underneath. When someone makes any decision in their lives, they need to make it for themselves, not their boyfriend or parents or their peers. This can translate to anyone, anywhere, in any situation. The novel also illustrates the importance of family: not just blood relatives, but the people that are most important to us in our lives.
This novel was cute, light, and funny mixed with a dash of seriousness and angst. I really hope it's the start of a series. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
"I am the voice, I am the truth.
Ask me, I will speak."
This was a really interesting Oracle theme put into an everyday setting. I liked that this was almost completely contemporary - except for the fact that Aria must answer every question she hears with the truth. Even if that truth is in the form of a poem, a strange gibberish rhyming lines or even lines from books or poems. She can't lie and she can't hold back her answer. She's mastered the art of mumbling to hide it or blocking out the show more everyday mundane questions with her MP3 player.
And I loved the mystery - and the fun of trying to decipher her prophetic words. I loved the underlying murders and trying to figure out who was friend and who was foe. I was right, I was wrong - but it felt like every chapter I was wondering again and again who it was. This one kept me flying through it and made for a very fast paced, quick read. show less
Ask me, I will speak."
This was a really interesting Oracle theme put into an everyday setting. I liked that this was almost completely contemporary - except for the fact that Aria must answer every question she hears with the truth. Even if that truth is in the form of a poem, a strange gibberish rhyming lines or even lines from books or poems. She can't lie and she can't hold back her answer. She's mastered the art of mumbling to hide it or blocking out the show more everyday mundane questions with her MP3 player.
And I loved the mystery - and the fun of trying to decipher her prophetic words. I loved the underlying murders and trying to figure out who was friend and who was foe. I was right, I was wrong - but it felt like every chapter I was wondering again and again who it was. This one kept me flying through it and made for a very fast paced, quick read. show less
Who would have known that a vampire story doesn't have to be scary? Yes, Sucks to Be Me is a vampire story, but nothing like you've ever read before... so throw all your old notions and pre-conceived ideas about vampires out the window because that's not what you'll find in Kim's new book. What you will find is a barrel of fun... vampire style. Kim started with a list of the myths and legends about vampires, tossed away the obvious ones, and had some fun with the rest. For instance, What if show more you could choose to be a vampire or not? Do Vampires have a code of ethics?
Mina Hamilton is a typical teen with a best friend and all the usual worries about hot boys, prom night, and keeping secrets. Humans aren't supposed to know about vampires, but Mina has known about her parents for many years, and now she needs to make the choice. The only thing is, she can't tell her best friend about any of the strange things happening... and those things get stranger by the minute.
Mirrorstone has done an awesome job in producing this novel. The cute litte vampire bat on the back cover, the pages of Mina's notes and lists that she writes while she's trying to make her life-changing decision, those Myth versus Truth snippets at the head of each chapter, all add to the appeal of this book, while Mina's sweet voice and personality captivate the reader and make you want to know how it all turns out in the end. Well, you'll just have to read the book.
Recommended for readers age 12 and up who are in search of adventure and a little something different for their reading enjoyment.
This review was previously published on Dragonviews show less
Mina Hamilton is a typical teen with a best friend and all the usual worries about hot boys, prom night, and keeping secrets. Humans aren't supposed to know about vampires, but Mina has known about her parents for many years, and now she needs to make the choice. The only thing is, she can't tell her best friend about any of the strange things happening... and those things get stranger by the minute.
Mirrorstone has done an awesome job in producing this novel. The cute litte vampire bat on the back cover, the pages of Mina's notes and lists that she writes while she's trying to make her life-changing decision, those Myth versus Truth snippets at the head of each chapter, all add to the appeal of this book, while Mina's sweet voice and personality captivate the reader and make you want to know how it all turns out in the end. Well, you'll just have to read the book.
Recommended for readers age 12 and up who are in search of adventure and a little something different for their reading enjoyment.
This review was previously published on Dragonviews show less
Cat Girl’s Day Off by Kimberly Pauley is set in a world where people have non-secret superpowers. Chicago schoolgirl, Nat, has a very talented family. Her parents and siblings all have multiple and powerful superpowers. It runs in the family. Except Nat only has one superpower: she can talk to cats. Whoopdidoo.
The excitement starts when her best friends force her to watch a YouTube video of a celebrity blogger who’s come to town to cover the filming of a teen movie. Nat notices the show more blogger’s pink cat is calling out for help in the clip. Somehow, the blogger’s been replaced by a double and only her pets and Nat no about it. It’s up to Nat and her friends to work out what’s going on.
Cat Girl’s Day Off was an amusing and quirky (in a good way) book. A quick light read that made me laugh out loud a few times (mostly at the snarky cats). The celebrity angle had be a bit doubtful at first since I’m really not the kind of person who gives a crap about celebrities, but then neither does Nat, so that was OK. Her friends were a bit over the top at first, but by the end they had developed into non-clichéd characters. A couple of times Nat’s inner monologue got a bit repetitive, but mostly it was entertaining. And her strictly PG swearing made me smile. (Oh, poodle farts!)
Ultimately, this was partly a coming-of-age story. In the end (not a spoiler) Nat comes to accept her powers as not completely useless and grows up a bit. The other part, the mystery and celebrity impersonation part, was taken a little bit lightly at times. Yes, it was inescapably amusing when the cats helped the humans catch the bad guy, but not quite enough weight was given to all the bad things that were going on.
Cat Girl’s Day Off was a light, fun read. Don’t read it if you’re in the mood for something serious and, as should be obvious by now, don’t read it if you hate cats. I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but I believe it is generally available from today.
4 / 5 stars show less
The excitement starts when her best friends force her to watch a YouTube video of a celebrity blogger who’s come to town to cover the filming of a teen movie. Nat notices the show more blogger’s pink cat is calling out for help in the clip. Somehow, the blogger’s been replaced by a double and only her pets and Nat no about it. It’s up to Nat and her friends to work out what’s going on.
Cat Girl’s Day Off was an amusing and quirky (in a good way) book. A quick light read that made me laugh out loud a few times (mostly at the snarky cats). The celebrity angle had be a bit doubtful at first since I’m really not the kind of person who gives a crap about celebrities, but then neither does Nat, so that was OK. Her friends were a bit over the top at first, but by the end they had developed into non-clichéd characters. A couple of times Nat’s inner monologue got a bit repetitive, but mostly it was entertaining. And her strictly PG swearing made me smile. (Oh, poodle farts!)
Ultimately, this was partly a coming-of-age story. In the end (not a spoiler) Nat comes to accept her powers as not completely useless and grows up a bit. The other part, the mystery and celebrity impersonation part, was taken a little bit lightly at times. Yes, it was inescapably amusing when the cats helped the humans catch the bad guy, but not quite enough weight was given to all the bad things that were going on.
Cat Girl’s Day Off was a light, fun read. Don’t read it if you’re in the mood for something serious and, as should be obvious by now, don’t read it if you hate cats. I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but I believe it is generally available from today.
4 / 5 stars show less
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 8
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 776
- Popularity
- #32,779
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 74
- ISBNs
- 29
- Languages
- 2
- Favorited
- 3
