tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45441478597019502062024-03-05T05:21:15.024-08:00The Book BuzzerA Young Adult Book Blogangelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-49235225676670097262010-11-14T14:32:00.000-08:002010-11-14T15:16:00.817-08:00The Buzzer's OWL Post<div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 302px; height: 201px;" src="http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/content/binary/Harry_Potter-logo_90894o.jpg" /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;">eh hem... <span style="font-style: italic;">Sonorus</span>...<br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:180%;" >HEY THERE!</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In honor of <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1</span> </span>being premiered on November 19, <a href="http://thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: rgb(204, 153, 51);">The Smarty Owl</span></a>, <a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: rgb(204, 153, 51);">The Book Buzzer</span></a> and our friend <span style="color: rgb(204, 153, 51);">Lana</span> have teamed up to present to you a plethora of all things Harry Potter!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The main Harry Potter frenzy will be happening over at <a href="http://thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/">The Smarty Owl</a>. Head on over there to see all of their great features, from <a href="http://thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/2010/11/daily-prophet-harry-potter-mania.html">The Daily Prophet</a> to the <a href="http://thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/2010/11/owl-post.html">OWL Posts</a>. They have posted a mix of trailers, The Deathly Hallows featurettes, and just about anything else you may be wanting to discover about Harry Potter.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I will be posting two reviews: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Hopefully, both of them will be up later tonight.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Since we all know that the Harry Potter series is just so fantastically amazing and override all other books in existence, we have decided to give it a different rating system, specifically made for Harry Potter. Keep in mind that any rating on this scale automatically surpasses my beastly rating system. ;)</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:130%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Outstanding (O)</span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:130%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Exceeds Expectations (E)</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:130%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;">Acceptable (A)</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:130%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;">Poor (P)</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:130%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: bold;">Dreadful (D)</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:130%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Troll (T)</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;font-size:14px;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;font-size:14px;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;font-size:14px;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-family:verdana;font-size:medium;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; text-align: center;font-size:14px;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 102); font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Ah, I forgot to introduce myself!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 51);">A</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">n</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 51);">g</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">e</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 51);">l</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">a</span></span><br />Gryffindor,<br />Half-blood,<br />Blackthorn; Chimaera Scale Core; 11 inches<br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">See Rica, Sonia and Lana's stats over at The Smarty Owl!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And did I mention? We will be heading out to the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 midnight premiere on November 19! Be on the look out for our before and after posts.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Start your journey at <a href="http://thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/p/great-hall.html">The Great Hall</a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">The End Begins...<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 265px; height: 394px;" src="http://www.kidsmomo.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-i-movie-poster.jpg" /><br /><br />11.19.10<br /></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-33207714861906693072010-11-02T16:29:00.000-07:002010-11-02T18:36:34.015-07:00ARC: The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvvY6uG-J7r54Pv3qzxQvPS38XeubNyfJLiKgccq2Z1VjGoaojMl2flqfDLdUOqWXrRDMIiMHNNIj1Rw5j7SIshWH6rQjvPXPNREyrQEpPszpMpsmAWWiJ6VmN9OwzEpuPZSFes4EK4Q/s1600/the+mockingbirds+by+daisy+whitney.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvvY6uG-J7r54Pv3qzxQvPS38XeubNyfJLiKgccq2Z1VjGoaojMl2flqfDLdUOqWXrRDMIiMHNNIj1Rw5j7SIshWH6rQjvPXPNREyrQEpPszpMpsmAWWiJ6VmN9OwzEpuPZSFes4EK4Q/s320/the+mockingbirds+by+daisy+whitney.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535128049372566050" /></a><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Title:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> The Mockingbirds (ARC)</span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Author:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Daisy Whitney</span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Publication Date:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> November 2, 2010</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ARC, 339 pages</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">hardcover, 352 pages</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Some schools have honor codes.<br />Others have handbooks.<br />Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.<br /><br />Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.<br /><br />In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it. - Summary from <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6882274-the-mockingbirds">Goodreads</a></span></i></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Meet Alex. Meet the morning after. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Mockingbirds has a thrilling, mysterious beginning. It starts off with Alex waking up after getting date raped, although not knowing it at the time. She is startled and dizzy. From the moment she realizes she's not in her own bed, Alex manages to lull the reader with her distraught confusion. Alex has a strong voice throughout the whole story, not just of your average, prep school girl, but also that of an independent female character that always has her best interest in mind, even when the pressure of the intimidating, brilliant kids at Themis Academy is on. But the most important decision Alex makes in her high school years is that of when she turns to the Mockingbirds for the most drastic and influencing help she can get.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Mockingbirds is a student-run organization, completely unknown to the staff at the Academy, yet perhaps the most famous club among the students. Their job is to bring the justice to the students in situations where the school board is just not serious enough to handle it. Date rape, Alex's friends agree, is definitely a serious matter that should not be ignored. Through the Mockingbirds and their system of honor and strong impressions, they have the power to threaten or challenge anyone in the academy that is of wrongdoings, such as date rape. I love the cleverness of the Mockingbirds, and the way the group is run. Being composed of elite students, the set-up is brilliant and well designed, using school messengers and points to alter a students credibility and rights. The reason why it was founded is because high-class schools such as the one Alex attends believe that their students are sweet and innocent, and are too determined to succeed in important areas of life. Any incident of delinquency, and the headmasters will ignore it. Alex's older sister, Casey, created the Mockingbirds in hope that any time a student found themselves in danger or a tough situation, they would have someone to turn to for help that will always be carried through. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The story makes a turn for the better when the Mockingbirds accept Alex's case of accusing Carter, the boy she was with that night, of date rape. They bring him to "court", just like an actual case except this one is just in the dorm laundry room. If Carter is convicted of rape, he must face serious consequences, involving his expulsion from the Themis Academy swim team. It is truly amazing how the Mockingbirds have the power to control his school activities, all while working directly under the schools noses. For Alex, not only is she aware that the truth will prevail, but she also meets plenty of new friends and acquaintances that are supporting her all the way. And to top it off, a romance does blossom between her and her good geek friend, Martin. Martin is supportive of everything Alex does, and being a Mockingbird himself, is threatening his own position of power in the group by being with Alex. I like that part because it adds secrecy between Martin and Alex. It added to the suspense at the final court case and yet still stood strong. Another small, yet main character drastically helped in Alex finding herself is Mrs. Damata, her piano teacher. Alex is an extremely talented pianist, and I enjoyed that part of her because every time she described her playing or anything piano related, I could relate to and follow it too because I play the piano as well. Mrs. Damata went to Julliard, and so she is like a grandmother to Alex, someone who she is able to confide in when discussing music. And other things. Like Carter. And boys. Mrs. Damata is a character who Alex could burst out her feelings to, and she would fully understand. She is the one who helps Alex find her inner strength, and stop doubting herself and her capabilities. Mrs. Damata only appears in the story a handful of times, which did disappoint me a little. I am hoping she will make a strong reappearance in the next book as well.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The ending of The Mockingbirds is a bit predictable, but yet still extremely satisfying. There was a main part that could easily have been suspected which I won't mention, but it still doesn't ruin the "exciting-ness" of the story. Alex's character develops strongly and evenly throughout the book. She discovers how much of a difference she can make upon her life if she follows through with tough decisions that can have strong and lasting impacts on people. The writing could have been a bit more impressive and captivating, but otherwise, Daisy Whitney did an exceptional job with this book to show the importance of finding yourself, and also being aware of rape and date rape. </span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Lastly, one very important thing I learned from this book:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When it comes to determining a rape, this may be the key component to the accusation.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A no is a no. Not a yes. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4COjY9X9oKgU-qIPb7D3UoZcSONYqsy4pB1s5gXBa4VMM6XlY_d_8_vpN5rifBHaodAWd0ROeaD4tgIrzMRi-SAekVeuQIoamqE-cnRgOZ1kXBPE8cSCT_PX7sm39EM3jV4werGEUEu4/s400/4+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535128278545383794" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; "><span class="Apple-style-span">4 Beasts</span></span></span></span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-52486459019210404992010-10-14T14:13:00.001-07:002010-10-14T14:47:49.140-07:00Paranormalcy by Kiersten White<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYGQ2s2EjVTPIknl1CCwISj-VsgpA3gJe6xSKfmDzV9W8zmDwgX8lKCovPf8W-kY0WPxuTuLL9Ax9tL3yr0d1oF4LbnDqfe-uPVv4HJYA3uXQi2v9InkaapRLR_1o0zDG9YvTzDPEMMQ/s1600/Paranormalcy.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 224px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYGQ2s2EjVTPIknl1CCwISj-VsgpA3gJe6xSKfmDzV9W8zmDwgX8lKCovPf8W-kY0WPxuTuLL9Ax9tL3yr0d1oF4LbnDqfe-uPVv4HJYA3uXQi2v9InkaapRLR_1o0zDG9YvTzDPEMMQ/s320/Paranormalcy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528020847262347538" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Title:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Paranormalcy</span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Author:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Kiersten White</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Publication Date:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> August 31, 2010</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">hardcover, 335 pages</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.<br /><br />Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. - Summary from </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7719245-paranormalcy"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Goodreads</span></span></a></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(24, 24, 24); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thanks to a VERY friendly librarian, I was able to snag this book a few days before it came out! Unfortunately I didn't actually go to pick it up until the day it was published... :(</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Paranormalcy is by all means way past my expectations. With all the tacky, twilight faux out there, my taste for paranormal was at a demise. However, when I picked up this book, my love for this high-demand genre was back. Every part of this book is different from those that I had read before. The best part about Evie, the main character, is that she herself does not know who she actually is. The story was about finding that person inside of her, literally. In the beginning she is just a normal person, which I am still, months after reading this book, loving. For once there is a book where you don't truly know the main character, and since she doesn't know herself either, her curiosity and adventure is in your veins as well.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When Evie meets Lend, it's as if the whole book was merely a rocket just waiting to be launched, finally, when they meet. They bond instantly-at first, just as friends, which is the best part. Neither of them try to take it to fast, but are both content with the ever-so -as well as patient- growing bond between them. Even better, this time, it was Evie who made the first moves rather than Lend. Lend is fantastic, and his power met with Evie's is a perfect match. It's clear that they are meant for each other. Lend's abilities are intriguing and original, and constantly made me curious to know what he would do the next time he shows up. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The idea of Evie's paranormal abilities deserves 5 stars on its own. The rest of the paranormals in the story are also just so differentiated from the average werewolf/vampire scenarios, they too alone could have kept me lured into the story. The antagonist is, well, think of her as an extremely distorted (and by distorted I mean lighter AND distorted) version of Harry Potter and Voldemort. Evie and her share many things in common such as their abilities, but also have feelings for each other that are not mutual. The face-to-face scenes are not as dark and twisted as they are in Harry Potter, but they do have the perfect amount of action and suspense a 14 year old girl is looking for in such a story. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I was amused by how fairies, once their true names are discovered, are forced to do the bidding of whoever speaks their name. Reth, Evie's ex-boyfriend, had a rough, bad-boy touch with a slightly predictable twist in the end. In a more positive statement, I would call the predictable twist more of clever foreshadowing. . . However, all in all this was a very satisfying story that was was very enjoyable. It fits the description of a young adult book perfectly. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLrFyoHz5q9fhSEQN3SnNYOgCf2Glu9ThyphenhyphenzsGRiImDG34pNIl1yb7N0ix2Az2OJ8dwBKor11xOLrPQsSZTX22gSzF8vH3l-a6CDASU5lrjA8RJUcOaAZduV1f-2YbDxxoJvh53op1oAE/s400/4+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528020978395277762" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">4 Beasts</span></span></span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-6825993656930917972010-10-10T12:36:00.001-07:002010-10-10T12:39:44.397-07:00The Smarty Owl - Win a Copy of Gemini Night!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'century gothic', monospace; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(80, 43, 0); line-height: 18px; "><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Smarty Owl (my book blogging affiliate) is having an awesome contest! Check it out!</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(241, 194, 50); "><br /></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(241, 194, 50); ">Ge<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); ">mi<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 229, 153); ">ni</span></span> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); ">Nig</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(241, 194, 50); ">ht</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div><a href="http://goodbadandunread.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/GeminiNight-e1273651747501.png" style="color: rgb(91, 182, 151); text-decoration: none; "><img alt="" border="0" src="http://goodbadandunread.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/GeminiNight-e1273651747501.png" style="border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; padding-top: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(239, 195, 195); border-right-color: rgb(239, 195, 195); border-bottom-color: rgb(239, 195, 195); border-left-color: rgb(239, 195, 195); cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 281px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; width: 200px; " /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); ">One winner will get Gemini Night- the third </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); ">awesomesauce</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); "> installment in the </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(241, 194, 50); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large; ">Star Crossed Series by Bonnie Hearn Hill</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(147, 196, 125); ">Rules and guidelines?</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(80, 43, 0); font-family: 'century gothic', monospace; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; "><ul style="text-align: center; "><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); ">You must be</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); "> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); ">13 or over to enter</span></span></b></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); ">Since we're honoring our</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); "> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); ">followers, you must be one!</span></span></b></li><li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); ">One winning entrant</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); "> </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); ">will get Gemini Night by Bonnie Hearn Hill. Winner will be</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(111, 168, 220); "> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 217, 102); ">picked using random.org or hat!</span></span></b></li></ul><div></div><ul style="text-align: center; "><li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(142, 124, 195); ">Contest limited to the United States</span></span></b></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(142, 124, 195); ">Contest </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(142, 124, 195); ">November 15th, 2010</span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(142, 124, 195); "> at midnight EST</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(142, 124, 195); ">.</span></span></b></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/2010/10/star-crossed-contest.html">ENTER HERE!</a></span></b></span></div></span></div></span>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-18521545508816089102010-10-08T15:12:00.000-07:002010-10-08T15:34:20.387-07:00Blog Hop and Follow Friday 10/8/10<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 20px; "><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Hey everyone!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Book Blogger Hop is hosted by</span></span><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Crazy for Books</span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Follow Friday is hosted by</span><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Parajunkee's View</span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >This weeks Blog Hop question:</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >What's your favorite beverage while reading or blogging, if any? Is it tea, coffee, water, a glass of wine, or something else?</span></span></b></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" >My Answer: I try to avoid drinking beverages while reading because when I do I often spill on the book. But if I do have a preference, it is usually based on the weather. . . such as hot chocolate in the winter and cold juice in the summer. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >And the FF question:</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b><span class="Apple-style-span" >How many book reviews do you like to do a week?</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >My answer: Well in the summer I try to do 1-2 a week, but now because of school I rarely have time to do even one a week. But I try to do at least one every week so I can let my followers know that I'm still an active blogger.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Have a great weekend! Happy hopping!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >and remember:</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" > I follow back!</span></b></span></span></div></span>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-73062024789130691102010-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:002010-10-04T15:10:32.420-07:00Graceling by Kristin Cashore<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4SnBS1wsfv8TAxbNRKG2ZkxivMKY-s1C-NaADygFYiBWfMCVE2kSQPFCoLzlqfpcW2WTEp5tVCtEd1w4SK2OFYqd59bj2ju_1wo7HwK-ctfBxP8afaAF_ay36SOhL-T1RTQwdPa67j4/s1600/Graceling+Kristin+Cashore.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4SnBS1wsfv8TAxbNRKG2ZkxivMKY-s1C-NaADygFYiBWfMCVE2kSQPFCoLzlqfpcW2WTEp5tVCtEd1w4SK2OFYqd59bj2ju_1wo7HwK-ctfBxP8afaAF_ay36SOhL-T1RTQwdPa67j4/s320/Graceling+Kristin+Cashore.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523952726758139346" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Title: </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Graceling</span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Author: </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Kristin Cashore</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Publication Date: </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">September 7th 2009</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hardcover, 471 pages</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight — she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme, and in her case horrifying, skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.<br /><br />She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace — or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away... a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. - Summary from </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3236307.Graceling"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Goodreads</span></a></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(24, 24, 24); line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Kristin Cashore is the master of combining fantasy, adventure, romance, and a thick page-turning plot into one book. Every part of this story was enticing, and there were little to no parts I had issues with. Every character is strongly developed and has a voice vital to the overall story.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the beginning, Katsa, the main character, is working for her uncle, King Randa, as a form of a threatener who forces kings from other kingdoms to do what Randa pleases. Katsa has a Graceling, a special power she was born with that allows her to excel in a particular subject in life. It is believed that she has the Grace of killing, and that gives Katsa the power to kill or hurt someone with the slightest ease. Because of this Grace, her uncle basically "tools" on her and forces her to go to other kingdoms and do his bidding. And the worst part is that Katsa goes along with it. It is not until Prince Po enters her life that he makes her change her view of herself. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The plot itself is well written and very thorough. It definitely would have kept the story a page turner had it not involved Katsa and Po's romance. (Even though that was a very big part!) It is not a simple plot, but easy to understand and definitely unpredictable at multiple points. Katsa and Po are to travel and find King Leck, the ruler of Murgon for suspicion that he had captured Prince Tealiff. That adventure turnes out to be more than just a simple mission, for there are three branches off of the objective. One task they are to do is to rescue Bitterblue from the wrath of her father, King Leck who is this-close to mistreating her. The second is unexpected to the Po and Katsa (however completely expected to the reader), that being the romance between them. And the last and perhaps most important to the plot is to kill King Leck. Leck has a extremely powerful Grace that I will not mention so I do not spoil anything. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">My favorite part of Graceling was the connection with Katsa and Po. None of it was rushed, mainly because of Katsa's personality, and how she refuses to ever marry or have children. However, Po manages to bring her strong walls down with wit and charm, and also the power of knowing exactly what to say at the right moment. (which I am pointing out because I seem to never be able to do that..) On their journey to find King Leck, Katsa soon realizes that the friendship she thinks she has with Po is in truth, much more. Their romance is perfect because it is not overdone, however there it is just the perfect amount so that it doesn't leave you satisfied. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now, the ENDING. Just when you think all is well, there is a HUGE twist in the story that leaves me shocked and mad. But not in the mad this-book-stinks way. Mad in the sense that just makes me love the book more. It is brilliant and heartbreaking at the same time. It makes me connect with each character to a deeper level, and adding to the intensity of the story. Graceling is a fantastic book that will leave your heart fluttering and your reading hunger satisfied. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq6ZUQ8ydRmZB2XlzZ9PhVsSAgFpghTsBsnU7eEsVOHaa9HdXmk0Nc-PMdBfrVsvOun_P-ZOIdUmXEODPiTlV1zjVQjwLimvfyePzL2sBZGpBqOkp0UjWEHcEf7XEZ915KKZuDHAJMong/s400/4.5+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523952808308149330" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 65px; " /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">4.5 Beasts</span></span></span></span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-54799636594516155782010-10-01T13:47:00.000-07:002010-10-04T15:12:18.647-07:00THE WINNER! MY 50 FOLLOWERS/1 MONTH BLOGOVERSARY CONTEST!<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Thanks to EVERYONE who entered this contest! I would not be anywhere near where I am right now in blogging if it weren't for my followers. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">out of </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span">433</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"> entries and </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span">91</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"> entrants....</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">winner</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> of my 50 Followers/1 Month Blogoversary IS....</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">*drumroll*</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><img src="http://textanim.com/t-a347-yes-255/255/255-10-1-1285967997CzhHCA.gif" border="0" alt="Loading..." style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">(Jessica S.)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Congratulations Jessica! You have 48 hours to respond to my email.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Thanks for entering everyone! Come back for more updates on contests coming up!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-54370851577113057632010-10-01T11:51:00.000-07:002010-10-04T15:11:58.856-07:00Blog Hop and Follow Friday! 10/1/10<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 20px; "><div><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Hello there everyone! It's 10/01/10. Cool. </span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">don't you just LOVE binary numbers?! - (my math teacher today)</span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Book Blogger Hop is hosted by<a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/">Crazy for Books</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Follow Friday is hosted by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/">Parajunkee's View</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">This week:</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; font-size: large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; "><div style="text-align: center; "><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"How do you spread the word about your blog?<br />(e.g. Social Networking sites, Book Blog Directories, comments on other blogs...)"</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">My answer:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"> well thats an easy one! The main way I spread my blog is right here, through Blog Hop and Follow Friday! I always try to hop over to as many blogs as I can and say hey! Most of the time bloggers see my comment on their blog and hop back over to mine. And that's how I get the word out! Also, my first contest spread the word quite a bit. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">This weeks Follow Friday question:</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What books have bitten you?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">My answer: </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">I have two main books: The Harry Potter Series and The Hunger Games. In fact, right now I am re-reading the Harry Potter series in honor of the seventh movie, which comes out in November! I'm just trying to re-fresh my mind for everything that has happened to Harry from the first to seventh books. And with the Hunger Games, I have read it so many times and it never gets old! And I never want to stop reading it!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Have fun hopping! And heres my rule: </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you follow me, I will follow you back!</span></span></b></span></div></div><div align="left" style="color: black; "></div><div align="left" style="color: black; "></div></span></b></span></span></div></span>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-3050864058925555732010-09-24T18:17:00.000-07:002010-09-27T16:38:39.242-07:00The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf32JvwiqiUMMsbQ_ujmciZAVUOBDUJPdYBkg4pOy3-lbZ1bp6aWH92kEiqeGf0wzeXG4i-_3eTl05OCheHeFtIZEzRyNaWY11iLTxqYZSJ-8xIjWl0t1uI5S2nHKTJo2_qDZLJt8Olb4/s1600/The+Absolutely+True+Diary+of+a+Part-time+indian+pic.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf32JvwiqiUMMsbQ_ujmciZAVUOBDUJPdYBkg4pOy3-lbZ1bp6aWH92kEiqeGf0wzeXG4i-_3eTl05OCheHeFtIZEzRyNaWY11iLTxqYZSJ-8xIjWl0t1uI5S2nHKTJo2_qDZLJt8Olb4/s320/The+Absolutely+True+Diary+of+a+Part-time+indian+pic.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521740141064960530" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Title:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"> The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian</span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Author:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"> Sherman Alexie</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Publication Date:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"> September 12, 2007</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Hardcover, 230 pages</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend and all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the authors own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live. - Summary from </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/693208.The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part_Time_Indian"><span class="Apple-style-span">Goodreads</span></a></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Okay, Sherman Alexie, I doubt that this book is ABSOLUTELY true, but if it is, it may just be the best Absolutely True (or Absolutely slightly changed) teenager story I have ever read. I can definitely understand how </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span">The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"> won the National Book Award. It has an amazing story about one boys adventure outside of his Indian Reservation, from where he was destined to be all his life to where he finally realizes he must leave the rez go to an all-white school. There, he learns who he truly is and realizes that he can be someone that he's never dreamed of being before. He understands that life on the rez doesn't have to be the only path of life he can take. Even that being an alcoholic is not the way he should live, despite the majority of the Indians he lives with are alcoholics.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> I first was interested in this book not through seeing it on shelves or that nice shiny award on the cover, but rather, in a most peculiar way. In Massachusetts, starting from third grade every child in the public school systems must take an exam called MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) for all the basic curriculum topics, including reading and reading comprehension. One year, a reading comprehension story on the test was an excerpt from Sherman Alexie's book. It was a major basketball/life changing scene, where Junior takes on the huge, big bully, all-star, ex-best friend Rowdy in a match between his all-white team, Reardan, and his old rez team, Wellpinit. He creams them and humiliates them, and while basking in all his glory he turns around to see Rowdy and his old team. He knows that most of them haven't had anything to eat today. He imagines when Rowdy comes home to his drunken father, who will of course beat him to near-death for losing. He thinks about how none of them will go to college. None of them. He feels ashamed.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Junior is one of the most amazing characters of a story I have read in a long time. He had a fervid, strong voice from the start, and it only grew stronger through the story. Who knew a boy that was born with too much water in the brain, had constant seizures, ten extra teeth and "ugly, thick, black, plastic" glasses would soon be dating the most popular girl in Reardan, be close friends with Roger, the star of the football team, and join the varsity basketball team as a freshman? Who knew that those companions would deeply respect him for who he was, no matter how poor he was? But even more importantly, who knew that a boy so unimportant, so unnormal could be the strongest, most independent and brave person on an entire Indian Reservation? Junior had a lot of guts to leave Wellpinit High and go to an all-white school off the rez. He had alot of nerve to punch Roger in the face and give him a bloody nose. He had a lot of nerve to talk to Penelope, the pretty blonde. But what I loved most about him was his love/hate relationship with Rowdy, his best friend since birth. Rowdy started to hate him, swear and hit him after he left the rez. What I believe was the true reason behind the Rowdy's violence was not that he thought Junior was a trader, but more on the part that Rowdy loved Junior too much to see him leave. But I love the way Sherman describes their love for each other (no, not in that way) no matter what happened. I love how Sherman cleverly describes guy-love, how guys can love each other alot but since their boys they won't actually admit it. I find that extremely funny, but definitely one hundred percent true. And also most of the time, their way of showing love is by insulting each other, fighting or being rude. As Junior says, "Man, you gotta love someone that much to hate them that much, too." Rowdy and Junior's friendship was deeper than the crazy weird Turtle Lake, which according to Junior, " was, like,</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span"> forever</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span"> deep." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Juniors adventures are, strangely, very philosophical. He is hilarious, with his descriptions of people, places and events along with the fantastic comics that go along with his story. I love his drawings of his teachers and tribe-members, the two of whom are compared to volcanoes and chickens. But apart from all the silliness and hysterical-ness of it all, the deeper meaning is what I found was the best part. Junior has lived a particularly sad life. Being an Indian is not what most people think it is. They receive barely any money from the government, and a majority of adults in the reservations have developed a habit of spending that money on drugs and alcohol. Because of this, lots of members of his tribe die in car accidents, shootings or fights with each other while being intoxicated. These deaths cause grief for Junior, and he stays out of school for very long periods of time. He is rejected by everyone in his tribe on the rez except for his family, for being a trader and transferring schools. At one point, Junior even has to get stitches from angry rez </span><span class="Apple-style-span">members throwing things at him. Yet he manages to stick through it, persevere, let life go on, and stay passionate to his goal of finding success, (and himself!) in leaving his safe-zone and going to an all-white public school.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Sherman Alexie reveals a culture in America that has been widely forgotten. The ever changing lifestyle of American Indians is something that most Americans are unaware of. Alexie points out that many of the rich, cultural traditions, customs and rituals are fading, and the newer generations are becoming less and less aware of their what was once a deep, thriving way of life. However, there are still those, such as Junior, who are aware of the changes, and instead of following that main road, decide to go down the one less traveled by. The road that can make all the difference, the one that shows them who they really are, and who they can be when they know not to be pulled down by who they are expected to be. </span><i>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian</i><span class="Apple-style-span"> is a fantastic book filled with humor, wit, character, sadness, coolness (yes!) and pretty much just about anything a young adult reader would love. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE60tOpCWlYBX-Do5_TVnnMynb7K2DuambnL0y2VHAKnuRfDeK5wTQg_VclWklySHS_KmurxQtvT2Hke5a36SgTIna05Rn19LQSWrsKXUO0aMDq6Vj_DpBWjoXJxK8kGD5zXauUSoO6cg/s400/4.5+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521741298859999234" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 65px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">4.5 Beasts</span></span></span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-90986710847689068062010-09-24T15:46:00.000-07:002010-10-04T15:12:40.336-07:00Blog Hop and Follow Friday 9/24/10<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 20px; "><div><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Hey bloggers and readers!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Book Blogger Hop is hosted by</span><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span">Crazy for Books</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Follow Friday is hosted by </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span">Parajunkee's View</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">This weeks Blog Hop question:</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><span class="Apple-style-span">When you write reviews, do you write them as you are reading or wait until you have read the entire book?</span></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">My answer: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I wait until I have finished the book before I start writing my reviews. I do this because often times the overall theme of the book is a process that takes the entire book to understand, and is powerfully concluded near the end. My rating for a book is decided upon the story, plot, theme, character development etc. which is hard to ascertain simply by reading and reviewing page by page. In my opinion, it takes the whole book to make it be "reviewable".</span></span></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This weeks FF question:</span></span></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What is your high fashion book? (Best cover ever!)</span></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">My answer</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: On The Adoration of Jenna Fox [Hardcover] book. there is a butterfly. If you look closely to the butterfly, a part of its left wing is missing. I would say close to ten percent. I will not say anymore about the wing, but for those of you who have read this book I hope you understand the importance of this. It's not the beauty of the cover that I love, but rather the important relation to the story from the cover. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hoppers, I will follow you back if you let me know that you follow me!</span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">While your here, don't forget to check out my </span></span><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">50 Followers Contest</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">! Ends September 30.</span></span></span></div></span>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-77445142385112495892010-09-17T12:45:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:02:26.424-07:00Blog Hop and Follow Friday! 9/17/10<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); line-height: 20px; "><div><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-size: 14px; "><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.496094) 1px 1px 5px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; " /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Hello there hoppers!</span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Book Blogger Hop is hosted by<a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); "> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); ">Crazy for Books</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Follow Friday is hosted by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(69, 27, 216); ">Parajunkee's View</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">This week:</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; border-collapse: collapse; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">In honor of </span></span><a href="http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/" style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Book Blogger Appreciation Week</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span">, let's take time this week to honor our favorite book bloggers and why we love them!</span></span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span">At the moment, I have two favorite book bloggers. My favorite blog is <a href="http://www.thesmartyowl.blogspot.com/">The Smarty Owl</a>, a YA book blog by Okapi and Rica Eat World. They have by far the best blog I know of, and their reviews are AMAZING. My second favorite blog is<a href="http://idsoratherbereading.blogspot.com/"> I'd So Rather Be Reading</a> by Kelli and Natalie, because they were the ones who gave me my first two blog awards. And they have given me multiple positive comments on many of my reviews. </span></div><div style="text-align: left; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">For you hoppers and followers out there: Leave me a comment saying you follow me, and I'll follow you back!</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; ">Also, be sure to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">c</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">h</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">e</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">c</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">k</a></span><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html"> </a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">o</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">u</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">t</a></span><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html"> </a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">m</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">y</a></span><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html"> </a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">c</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">o</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">n</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">t</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">e</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">s</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">t</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">!</a></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); ">Ends September 30</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Have a great weekend!</span></span></span></div></span>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-78749408710290590082010-09-15T18:51:00.000-07:002010-09-15T18:53:12.509-07:00My Rating System<span class="Apple-style-span" >All right guys- I need to make space for some more pages on the top of my blog. So, I have decided to remove the rating system as a page and simply put it as a post that I can link back to on my sidebar. So, for everyone who doesn't know how my rating system works or would simply like to see it again:</span><div><div class="post-body entry-content" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 10px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >I rate all my books by "Beasts". So, my favorite books are <b>Beastly</b>! Ha-ha, get it?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIVrShF4nnQhyphenhyphenxBXpb_PLC3ZrIxzLPhfGrcli4CiUdgaw2X5chFCHypeE2TSBa7x1HuBRE0vWJ5duoibN8saVMDSqgK8gaAysRgT_xFmzS0LiVZXB4XJVCPJF453DiemqCRi0SDsrhINY/s1600/.5+Beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIVrShF4nnQhyphenhyphenxBXpb_PLC3ZrIxzLPhfGrcli4CiUdgaw2X5chFCHypeE2TSBa7x1HuBRE0vWJ5duoibN8saVMDSqgK8gaAysRgT_xFmzS0LiVZXB4XJVCPJF453DiemqCRi0SDsrhINY/s320/.5+Beast.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Un-Beastly? (Highly unrecommended)</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQ_dJkVuSlu-m-HPuPxxWuVhfUeNvqUQvG92Ok920g-4_YNnLHrJyHKWQcz4wS-E0suc4TCBBVFXfUnl7TmwxukorIGgVTrHr8903fNAZ6Y8WZBzfu_iMcAptTX65-cHEFaHQGtf2SJg/s1600/1+Beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifQ_dJkVuSlu-m-HPuPxxWuVhfUeNvqUQvG92Ok920g-4_YNnLHrJyHKWQcz4wS-E0suc4TCBBVFXfUnl7TmwxukorIGgVTrHr8903fNAZ6Y8WZBzfu_iMcAptTX65-cHEFaHQGtf2SJg/s320/1+Beast.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimj8C2wXHeHpG7gaDW39r7pg5DPK68_05Db6HU6oh2paSOTJfTYiPvdnYac4Y6kRrbibKSIPcOFDZL-c5M3ZXg8evEM6XAKUh5mqo4-IR6Ws3hEuhavrIdhaG40bDoGuzuobeHO1MUp2k/s1600/1.5+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimj8C2wXHeHpG7gaDW39r7pg5DPK68_05Db6HU6oh2paSOTJfTYiPvdnYac4Y6kRrbibKSIPcOFDZL-c5M3ZXg8evEM6XAKUh5mqo4-IR6Ws3hEuhavrIdhaG40bDoGuzuobeHO1MUp2k/s320/1.5+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerY6XTjtcLac8ZXn6RRZi7YAoh36u420TJFTKuuoQU5NlOOJnfW4OceBgkMwoHzpiWmK9_SBFTKvrtTBlju23lI0GtB9MwLUW5gahGwb5DgPoP92Gd65YkPM6NYk2xGs3XCdIyloqFFo/s1600/2+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerY6XTjtcLac8ZXn6RRZi7YAoh36u420TJFTKuuoQU5NlOOJnfW4OceBgkMwoHzpiWmK9_SBFTKvrtTBlju23lI0GtB9MwLUW5gahGwb5DgPoP92Gd65YkPM6NYk2xGs3XCdIyloqFFo/s320/2+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghspraZPGrL1xgHksD6lZJ17QrBrXkOBT8fj2PgIMwQoSZ7pTk2PO43eCP2_so6eaWuWFVGGnQHX3rOLwJMfOkpTuKFT-l_GcinUAY-fAHbKOyx_Ri2WGQX76732cvokJDN-V4fXo6Xdg/s1600/2.5+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghspraZPGrL1xgHksD6lZJ17QrBrXkOBT8fj2PgIMwQoSZ7pTk2PO43eCP2_so6eaWuWFVGGnQHX3rOLwJMfOkpTuKFT-l_GcinUAY-fAHbKOyx_Ri2WGQX76732cvokJDN-V4fXo6Xdg/s320/2.5+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFIj93dSW_wrYeyvXQqpt6RJDCpOxWAmeG3XxfLZXYOi-r9ZKgtzYRYxy3K32xyrmgOfTdDIsqywIYlTeaySlgSwQv4ZLhot-Ocs0A87PGjQOXJaYh6SmySahjld_z3wVs2xWtN8kUtHQ/s1600/3+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFIj93dSW_wrYeyvXQqpt6RJDCpOxWAmeG3XxfLZXYOi-r9ZKgtzYRYxy3K32xyrmgOfTdDIsqywIYlTeaySlgSwQv4ZLhot-Ocs0A87PGjQOXJaYh6SmySahjld_z3wVs2xWtN8kUtHQ/s320/3+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_Vx6Xe9eBsj9wz3vM7e1NeX-HLvnCcG0Od_vUOgnmsfa3DrqiBK-i5iZFbDLeaPLsvqaoq1OblJC9G1GIzfyNQaBPYwmBVifwSTCfcNnehqtFlGXOt1IWO443VwWNjGf1sAz-M3-Szo/s1600/3.5+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_Vx6Xe9eBsj9wz3vM7e1NeX-HLvnCcG0Od_vUOgnmsfa3DrqiBK-i5iZFbDLeaPLsvqaoq1OblJC9G1GIzfyNQaBPYwmBVifwSTCfcNnehqtFlGXOt1IWO443VwWNjGf1sAz-M3-Szo/s320/3.5+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvdghGYHA3b8x7iwtiR1a7zXqnrqJfXdbeBij18Mkv02xRwmqzXCM35NJggI9048gGcpd-n4f7s1FsE0C35LQzKKnWQVyH88XNtwnp5_9uO2NcljbPUshMuftdPm1fzsl3klIVZkqJJs/s1600/4+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnvdghGYHA3b8x7iwtiR1a7zXqnrqJfXdbeBij18Mkv02xRwmqzXCM35NJggI9048gGcpd-n4f7s1FsE0C35LQzKKnWQVyH88XNtwnp5_9uO2NcljbPUshMuftdPm1fzsl3klIVZkqJJs/s320/4+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPWOttFzQDmBZTTSK03xSBggr5EVKVkz4wPi77bsAANCIYApV9xT3SSfvmbd_sBQVWmDmoSsjyFxW2DcRcbDy17RWUmeLCc9UF2zWQAKr8efUll9nTOBoowRjTKvu0bPMa3z0cjs-mZw/s1600/4.5+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPWOttFzQDmBZTTSK03xSBggr5EVKVkz4wPi77bsAANCIYApV9xT3SSfvmbd_sBQVWmDmoSsjyFxW2DcRcbDy17RWUmeLCc9UF2zWQAKr8efUll9nTOBoowRjTKvu0bPMa3z0cjs-mZw/s320/4.5+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >I LOVED IT! yay!</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >(Definitely Recommended)</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br /></p><p class="separator" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; text-align: center; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNBrHYDrXYG88edyYS4FZZXQFIA5L9d1qffp_6CZj_cEM48YxFDkTXSnzLpnv9vnrI0oC1okmUubF8zBNAe077HVYHDpBM_gjNxBxcW_ptXFtEyVQDA5KnDzC-okvT3399io9UE4bFfA/s1600/5+Beasts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; "><img border="0" height="52" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNBrHYDrXYG88edyYS4FZZXQFIA5L9d1qffp_6CZj_cEM48YxFDkTXSnzLpnv9vnrI0oC1okmUubF8zBNAe077HVYHDpBM_gjNxBxcW_ptXFtEyVQDA5KnDzC-okvT3399io9UE4bFfA/s320/5+Beasts.jpg" width="320" style="cursor: move; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 4px; " /></a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >BEASTLY. AS CLEARLY SHOWN BY MY REVIEW ANIMALS :)</span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="clear: both; "></div></div></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-61065364030371220342010-09-13T18:06:00.000-07:002010-09-14T17:07:36.741-07:00Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzB5x3uopofwGSI6NO2YLoEeuXwFMgYi7o0nLDdPfS2SnA4_ngooBfsOdY5npLtkM3sjqMnk905q5UUW8J074ElklWS4Qtv388DsSif4ypKph26OFxz7zDLIxBP5uTUXTRlkpBCvY_VA/s1600/Beautiful+Creatures+by+Kami+Garcia+and+Margaret+Stohl.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzB5x3uopofwGSI6NO2YLoEeuXwFMgYi7o0nLDdPfS2SnA4_ngooBfsOdY5npLtkM3sjqMnk905q5UUW8J074ElklWS4Qtv388DsSif4ypKph26OFxz7zDLIxBP5uTUXTRlkpBCvY_VA/s320/Beautiful+Creatures+by+Kami+Garcia+and+Margaret+Stohl.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516583154126878562" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Title:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" > Beautiful Creatures</span></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Author:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" > Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Publication Date:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" > December 1, 2009</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >hardcover, 563 pages</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she' struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations, But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.</span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.</span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" >In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything. -Summary from </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6304335-beautiful-creatures"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Goodreads</span></a></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" > Casters. The word is so simple, and it is an original paranormal creature that I have not read or heard about in a paranormal book before. That, on it's own, was a major plus of this book. The introduction was entrancing, starting the story off with dreams. Ethan Wate, a high-school aged boy from Gatlin, South Carolina, starts to have heart-thumping, blood-rushing dreams-or more like nightmares. He dreams that he is falling, tumbling through air, and there is a girl falling with him, screaming for help. But there is nothing he can do, for every time he tries to reach for her all he grabs is air. It is at this part in the dream when he usually wakes up, hot and sweaty. This beginning is quite the introduction, and now I know that there is a special girl out there he will be searching for.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" > The southern setting is important to the story in a way such that there is quite a bit of the book that has to do with historical references to the civil war, and it also includes a group of women called the Daughters of the Revolution - DAR. Two of the minor antagonists in the story, Emily, Savannah and their mothers as well are part of the club. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Ethan and Lena's meeting is not too cliche, rushed of forced. - Many small sections of the meeting may have seemed fake, such as the thunderstorm and high winds, but I later realized that it was truly not a pathetic attempt at making the "love at first sight" situation more tense than it was. It was just a relation to Lena and her powers, which include the ability to control the weather depending on her emotions. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >But now the good, positive review stops here. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" > Lena is an odd girl. She owns a hearse, which she drives regularly. I would have been more than creeped out if I saw a boy or girl driving a hearse to school. Of course, the loving boyfriend Ethan doesn't seem to mind. However, I find this slightly contradicting because Ethan is a popular, jock-style teenager. Perhaps I am being too confident here, but I know as a fact that popular sporty boys have no interest whatsoever in the dead and deceased, and would immediately judge a girl driving a hearse in a bad way. So, how Ethan doesn't even complain once about the hearse seems all too unrealistic. Also, Ethan is curiously over committed to Lena. He is so obsessed with her that he is completely undevoted to himself and his values he treasured before he met Lena. After the two of them meet, he loses all his friends and he doesn't show the slightest hint that he misses them or would like to be friends with them again. He is so entranced that he even quits the basketball team, along with his potential college scholarship that may have come if he stayed true to the team. There were numerous accounts of the normal, repetitive components of the average teenage/paranormal book:</span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >1)The meeting of the main characters. Of course C1 meets C2 and starts creeping on them. C2 tries to avoid C1 at all costs, and usually refers to calling them bad names and giving them the silent treatment.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >2) The beater. Link's- Ethan's best friend- car. Of course, it's the typical old terrible car that always rattles and coughs and wheezes and just barely manages to start the engine. Every teenager in every story seems to have one of those.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >3) Link is the classic best friend. Of course, when all of Ethan's other friends ditch him because he starts hanging out with Lena, Link is still there. It's not that I don't appreciate Link for doing that, but why is it always just one friend? And what makes that friend want to stick with Ethan? It is never mentioned in the story.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >4) When C1 or C2 realizes that the other is a paranormal, there is chapters and chapters of explanations about their abilities. TMI!!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The plot itself is not awful. In fact, it is, to say the least, entertaining and mysterious. There is only one main problem. Ethan Wate. Man, do I have a problem with this boy. He is an all around nuisance. He is shallow, lacks description, and is underdeveloped. He has little to no voice, which results in why I do not feel the strong connection between him and Lena. Yes, there is lots of romance, but never can I place myself in their situation and understand their love. Their personalities, thoughts and feelings are almost completely absent. I suppose I slightly understand the decent writing because it is two women writing from the perspective of a teenage boy, but there were most definitely several parts they could have polished or cut out. For example, on page 223: </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >" I was sure I wanted to kiss her again, but it would have to wait. If Marian had the answers we needed, I'd have a lot more chances to kiss her. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >I ran through my playbook again. Pick 'n' Roll."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Tell me thats not tacky. Isn't it just wrong for Ethan, such a charming boy, to think of life and girls as basketball plays? No, I'm sorry, but I don't understand how a Pick 'n' Roll metaphorically would help them find the answers or allow more kissing time. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" > I wouldn't say Beautiful Creatures was a waste of time, however, I also would not say it is a good use of time either. I do plan on reading Beautiful Darkness when it comes out, but I intend to place it near the bottom of my to-read list.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Hdz_YWR8r0WE7ZPz1e1NpklqN8PnTvUAN7VLLexzQVdIFbECmZwgeFCL5BpddeLNqGzMbVfcZxDFAKJ0BawnfaCKGBUoNdxGc41FwPyooTabte5x-Ci-tt8odu1ujgkWWYRcLqY8fhU/s400/3.5+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516587886411323186" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >3.5 Beasts</span></span></span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-59310443732472282452010-09-10T13:36:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:03:13.061-07:00Blog Hop (4) and Follow Friday! (3)<div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center; "><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-size:14px;"><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; " /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hello there hoppers!</span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Book Blogger Hop is hosted by<a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"> </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/">Crazy for Books</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Follow Friday is hosted by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/">Parajunkee's View</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This weeks question:</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">Post a link to a favorite post or book review that you have written in the past three months.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>My Answer:</b> Well, first off, It's not really a question. So this is not really an answer, it's more of a response. Anyways, I think that the best book review I've done yet is on the book <a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/will-grayson-will-grayson-by-john-green.html">Will Grayson, Will Grayson</a> by John Green and David Levithan. For all you bloggers that commented on it, thanks so much for the wonderful comments!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>For you hoppers and followers out there: Leave me a comment saying you follow me, and I'll follow you back!</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Also, be sure to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">c</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6600;">h</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;">c</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">k</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">u</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6600;">t</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;">m</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;">y</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">c</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">n</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;">e<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">!</span> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">The Book Buzzer's 50 Follower/1 Month Blogoversary Giveaway!</a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-10271450330994755672010-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:002010-09-06T10:03:56.278-07:00In My Mailbox (3): September 6, 2010<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> In My Mailbox is hosted by</span><a href="http://www.thestorysiren.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The Story Siren</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, to let bloggers show what books they have accumulated over the past week.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I haven't done an IMM in a while, so some of these books are not books I received this week, but rather several weeks ago. Still, I'm putting them in this post because I did not make an IMM for them the week I got them.</span></div><style type="text/css" media="screen"> .gr_grid_container { /* customize grid container div here. eg: width: 500px; */ } .gr_grid_book_container { /* customize book cover container div here */ float: left; width: 98px; height: 160px; padding: 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; } </style><div id="gr_grid_widget_1283791366"><!-- Show static html as a placeholder in case js is not enabled - javascript include will override this if things work --><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div class="gr_grid_container"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7507905-the-things-a-brother-knows" title="The Things a Brother Knows"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="The Things a Brother Knows" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1281447018m/7507905.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6234369-we-were-here" title="We Were Here"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="We Were Here" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276004442m/6234369.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6909544-birthmarked" title="Birthmarked"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="Birthmarked" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1282506683m/6909544.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6339664-hush-hush" title="Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="Hush, Hush" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275621186m/6339664.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/492883.Summer_at_Tiffany" title="Summer at Tiffany"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="Summer at Tiffany" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175205649m/492883.jpg" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3682.A_Great_and_Terrible_Beauty" title="A Great and Terrible Beauty"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="A Great and Terrible Beauty" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511E0D3K21L._SX106_.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div> <div class="gr_grid_book_container" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6304335-beautiful-creatures" title="Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="Beautiful Creatures" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275615071m/6304335.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">In My Mailbox </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">From Random Buzzers (:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The Things A Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> We Were Here by Matt de la Pena</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Won from The Prairie Library:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> From the Library:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div></div></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-59328786687043789302010-09-02T21:10:00.000-07:002010-09-02T21:23:33.898-07:00Book Blogger Hop! (4) and Follow Friday (3)<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-size:14px;"><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; " /></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hey everyone!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Book Blogger Hop is hosted by </span><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Crazy for Books</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Follow Friday is hosted by </span><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Parajunkee's View</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This weeks question:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">Do you judge a book by its cover?</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>My answer:</b> I will honestly answer this question with a yes. I know that I shouldn't, but sometimes it's just so hard to believe that books with drop-dead gorgeous covers could be bad! And it's also easy for be to believe that a book with an old-looking or dull cover is not that good. Although, in multiple cases, my judgement towards book covers has been proved wrong. For example, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I admit the covers aren't exactly eye-catching, but the books themselves are phenomenal. An example of a book that I think has a fantastic cover yet is repulsive would be... the Twilight series. Sorry to disappoint, all you Twilight lovers out there!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Do you judge a book by it's cover? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Leave a comment! If you tell me that you follow, I'll follow you back!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Have you entered my contest yet? </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#993399;">Angela's 50 Followers/1 Month Blogoversary Giveaway! Ends September 30.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(28, 47, 44); "><img src="http://www.websmileys.com/sm/crazy/071.gif" width="111" height="45" /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/2010/08/50-followers-and-1-month-blogoversary.html">Enter Here</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(28, 47, 44); "><img src="http://www.websmileys.com/sm/crazy/071.gif" width="111" height="45" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-88436871727591003732010-08-31T17:52:00.000-07:002010-09-02T19:47:56.866-07:00The Dark Divine by Bree Despain<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HgJaLYtTDWPMN1Vt0P2f8YwwQ_-RZdFQoE0kRjWIfHTQh6Sj2rNFFEHyiIHSKv0dOJ1Pi1Hwm9Hahpvcaom6jD3w9FiP6qzveTNhJAWxxCSJNAB3T4-KWHaSXIkYLry4h_SGMHD6wZQ/s1600/The+Dark+Divine+by+Bree+Despain.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HgJaLYtTDWPMN1Vt0P2f8YwwQ_-RZdFQoE0kRjWIfHTQh6Sj2rNFFEHyiIHSKv0dOJ1Pi1Hwm9Hahpvcaom6jD3w9FiP6qzveTNhJAWxxCSJNAB3T4-KWHaSXIkYLry4h_SGMHD6wZQ/s320/The+Dark+Divine+by+Bree+Despain.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512431759506033330" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Title:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> The Dark Divine</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Author:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Bree Despain</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Publication Date:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> December 22, 2009</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">hardcover, 372 pages</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px; "><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A Prodigal Son<br /><br />A Dangerous Love<br /><br />A Deadly Secret</span></span></i></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />Grace Divine—daughter of the local pastor—always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood.<br /><br />Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.<br /><br />As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul. - Summary from </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6380822-the-dark-divine"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Goodreads</span></span></a></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(24, 24, 24); line-height: 19px; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Bleh. The Dark Divine was a disappointingly typical paranormal story. It included all the classic components: girl meets mysterious boy, they try to avoid each other but are still pulled closer by love. Then the boy turns out to be a paranormal character- a werewolf, vampire, or in this case, a hound of heaven. Boy still has secrets that girl must find out on her own. Girl gets mad. Doesn't talk to boy. Boy still loves her. They get back together and save someones life. Sound familiar? This storyline makes me sick to my stomach, I've read it so many times. The Dark Divine was not an exception. I found the narrative of the story to be awfully amateur, juvenile and simple. Grace, the narrator, was a girl with a lack of sophistication. She was dull and mundane with nothing stark in her personality that made her truly stand out above all other girlfriends-of-paranormals. She had an abundance of lines where she would talk to herself with cliche thoughts such as the one when Pete was flirting with her. </span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Why am I such a dumb girl? I mean, seriously, get it together."</span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Sometimes it befuddles me as to how such shallow-minded girls always seem to get the charming boys. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There was lack in Jude and Grace's relationship as brother and sister. It was just barely there. Jude always seemed more interested in taking April out on dates than seriously discussing the dangers of Daniel to Grace. And Grace was much closer to Daniel than Jude in my opinion. Whenever she had to choose between them, it was clear that she did not put much thought into the decision. The beginning was terribly slow, and although Daniel was introduced early on, his presence was never heated to the point of intensity. In fact, I found the beginning to be so bland </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">that at one point I put it down and didn't pick it up for another week. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Grace is most definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed. Her lack of intelligence therefore results in her obliviousness to everything. She is too simple-minded and ignorant to even question Daniel's crazy inhuman abilities. Like the time during one of Grace's flashbacks to several years ago, Daniel had randomly shown up one day with major damage done to his skull. He went to the hospital, but the next day his skull was perfect, as if nothing had ever happened to it. Unconcerned, Grace never questioned the miracle. If I knew someone who was in the same scenario, of course I would have immediately realized something was not right. But no, while most normal people would have asked or sleuthed around for the truth, instead, it took Grace several years to remember the odd incidents in which Daniel proved to heal miraculously. And even then, only when Daniel confessed to her his capabilities, did she put the two and two together.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There were quite a number of unnecessary headers in the story. For example, on page 101:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Wednesday Afternoon, At the Funeral</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"A somber shadow cast over the parish, touching the hearts of all those who shuffled into the sanctuary for Maryanna Duke's funeral."</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">No need for repetitiveness...</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One Heartbeat Later</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Instead of starting a whole new section with that unnecessary header, you could just start a new paragraph?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Into The Woods</span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The next several pages are describing Daniel and Grace dashing off into the woods. We get the picture.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Also, many of those headers were right under the start of a new chapter, with the chapter already titled. The headers were extraneous.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The one thing that kept me holding onto this book was Grace and Daniel's relationship. They're addictive love for each other always made me swoon. They Divinely (ha-ha) loved each other, and truly stopped at nothing to be together. When Grace discovered Daniel's past and was so shocked and outraged that she refused to talk to him for months, it made me ache for Daniel to somehow in any way he could, come back for her and ask for forgiveness. Those two made made me totally hooked. All in all, The Dark Divine was not particularly special, although it was also not a book that I was appalled to read. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxFHrkDRaCQfEn1mozPvLzg-wTvsJisSv6-oJ0tLt2zSN6Tgc_HYLjKROMi8xfG6y1hgsjkGbwoWEM0HvNbcUfyQzxzbMpMhR2GR9XARx1Rv1NatNKvBJ_XjNxV61qoh_OUOaZVjDMgC4/s400/3.5+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512431842606983906" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">3.5 Beasts</span></div>angelatarantulahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08499657327187193278noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-60337776109245613172010-08-27T16:05:00.000-07:002010-08-27T17:18:22.168-07:00Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4dv-Gsz2VJwZwvyZ0v3yhDbrwKRGVQYlelF6w5ZfrAL9tqDGF7LsZ16ufWVSdaJzxkU9jzBEh2uG_Ovm_I7sFnkIhL3rkRDZuDrXFX9Nf3RdeHNb3Q55i0iIoOZRgx4DHin6LukCRZWU/s1600/Will+Grayson+Will+Grayson.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4dv-Gsz2VJwZwvyZ0v3yhDbrwKRGVQYlelF6w5ZfrAL9tqDGF7LsZ16ufWVSdaJzxkU9jzBEh2uG_Ovm_I7sFnkIhL3rkRDZuDrXFX9Nf3RdeHNb3Q55i0iIoOZRgx4DHin6LukCRZWU/s320/Will+Grayson+Will+Grayson.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510248153635803266" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Title:</b> Will Grayson, Will Grayson</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Author: John Green and David Levithan</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Publication Date:</b> April 6th, 2010</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hardcover, 310 pages </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical. </span></span></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan's collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans. - Summary from </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6567017-will-grayson-will-grayson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Goodreads</span></span></a></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I am a big fan of John Green. In all his books, he somehow manages to incorporate normal teenagers at the start and then they always tend to end up with their lives changed forever by the end. David Levithan on the other hand, I will admit that I have never read any of his books. But after reading this, I will make sure that changes. I could tell that the two of them have different styles of writing, as a little into the book it started to elucidate which author wrote which chapters. After finishing the book and looking online, it turns out my guesses were correct: Green wrote as Will1, and Levithan as Will2. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Will1 was my favorite character. I was attached from when he said </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC6600;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">"you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose." </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">That is a classic favorite saying of mine every since my friends dad said that in front of our whole 3rd grade class, and it was awesome hearing it again, but this time from a book! I also got a laugh out of Will1's two rules of life: 1. Don't care too much 2. Shut up. I do agree with these rules, for at certain times these are great rules to live by. Tiny Cooper, Will1's best friend, a unnaturally large massive person with a million boyfriends who he is in and out of love with everyday, was a fantastic character. He made me crack up in the way Green always manages to make his readers do. As Will1's best friend and eventually Will2's boyfriend, Tiny is like the puzzle piece that goes between them. He is the middle link in the chain. Tiny brought Will1 to a concert in Chicago, and the two Will's met at a store near the bar of the concert. If they didn't meet, they never would have found themselves, known who they really were, and they never would have changed forever. Without Tiny, the Will's certainly would never have met. He is a high school boy yearning for love, he's optimistic, genuine, caring, and especially unaware of the damage relationships can make on him. Even though he's been through it 17 times.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">When we first meet Will2, he's clearly an emo boy. He's depressed, never smiling, and takes medication for his "problem". He has no respect for his single mother who does the best she can to care for him. He is in an online dating relationship with a boy named Isaac. Yes, like Tiny Cooper, he is gay. When Will2 meets Will1 that fateful night in Chicago, their worlds turn in ways they never had before. Remember Will 1's rules of not caring too much and shutting up? Yeah, well, those are no longer an option for him. When Tiny Cooper decides to write and direct a musical about himself with the Gay-Straight-Alliance club, Will2 is the reason why he re-writes the script and turns the theme into love. Then, the two of them fall head over heels for each other and start a relationship. Yes, a gay relationship between a depressed, emo boy and a gigantically overweight one. They are together for the longest time any of them have ever been in a relationship, only to end it because Will2 tells tiny he doesn't need anyone. That shatters Tiny's heart into a million pieces, leaving him devastated. This is when Will2 realizes what a mess he's made, and spends days planning a stunt which involves Tiny's play that is so diabolical, it may just change Tiny's life forever. And just because of this one high school musical, Will1 drops everything he stands for so he can make a difference in the life of the person he loves most. Will2 is the one who comes up with the idea, and he's also the one who makes it happen. He is so struck by what he did to Tiny that day, he feels that he needs to do this to show that he still cares about and loves Tiny deeply. This one night changes the life of 3 boys. Again.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">I'm not a Will Grayson, but I love you, Tiny Cooper.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The cover at first glance just seems like an attractive, shiny and cool double dose of the title and the colors. Little did I notice that the background is not just some shiny, luminescent lights. Why in fact, they are stage lights, glinting and dazzling from the picture. And only then did I realize that it actually did have quite a lot to do with the book. I would rate this cover a 5/5, even though I don't do cover ratings. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The only issue I had with this book was the, well, lack of meaning in some parts. I would warn you that this book is definitely not for the younger audience. It includes online relationships, violently crude humor, a porn store, and the excessive use of, well, teenage language. B**chsquealer and motherf***er are used frequently throughout the book. Thus with all the explicit content, I disappointingly had to decrease the value of the rating. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4ekK9_fTsbc_t1ZZNI5jyXgCzBQVl7Y3tCcgd2X5xqsbAu4TxjjYPEHa6CNSz4SXBziceEH0hksE06HkxyHGTfKVKFRFUmWjErhyphenhyphenL8WxCi77z4U08-eMB3OwjLNlN1QJZjWueUkdmjg/s400/4+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510247729591852658" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">4 Beasts</span></span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-49101795977525226132010-08-27T11:54:00.000-07:002010-10-04T15:13:31.227-07:0050 Followers and 1 Month Blogoversary GIVEAWAY!<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Hey there everyone</span>! So as some of you may know, today I hit <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">50 followers</span>! Thanks so much for all your support and comments. They make and pull me through my days. Also, its been roughly one month since I started blogging! Can you believe it?! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">50 followers</span> in one month? I could not be more thankful for everyone whose helped me reach that goal. So, in celebration, I'm having a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">G</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF9900;">I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC66;">V</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">E</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">W</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">A</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF9900;">Y</span>!</span> There will be <b>1</b> lucky winner!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Here's what you can win:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE6mQYlzRKbmUogcTyBVZ2omt7LJkBnLEEjEadWiL7bj1FNWZ-zF3TdipEn06Gs3GKJswL4RDRRvPGitShrcrwm-xqOIF0nUaHFTyq4bWqkU5hhyphenhyphen3R8cwfTUIXirmA4Nce3jHPU0_W_QU/s400/50+Followers+Giveaway.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510173778121514370" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 530px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Or..... An ARC of Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson!</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Forge comes out October 16, 2010</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ZGfZImrgC_JksT2kKTxi6y7ZbOQQA2J3zpWQMFUV2s31BV7GU1iEEs0r0Geeut4Hr_LmbR-JequF6mX1tgGxSiRBg5F-qdvBy544MnB-3rHpXiM0EahYYfkXqcCzTkQLioJNtIgnq7Y/s200/Forge+Laurie+Halse+Anderson.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510175584979086242" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 133px; height: 200px; " /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">please note - The ARC does not have the cover shown here. It has a small image of the cover on the front.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">*Contest Rules*</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">You must be a follower to enter this contest! </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">To enter the giveaway, leave a comment with the following:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+1 your name and email</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+1 follow my blog (mandatory)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">extra entries:</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">1 follow me on twitter (@thebookbuzzer) - leave your username</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+2 tweet the contest -leave a link</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+2 add contest to your sidebar - leave a link</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+5 blog post - leave a link</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">+1 add up entries! don't forget!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Open to U.S. residents only. (Sorry guys! I'm still a student without a job...)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The winner will be selected by random.org</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Contest ends September 30. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The lucky winner will be announced October 2. I will contact them by email and a post, and they have 42 hours to respond or I will pick a new winner.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Good luck everyone! And thanks for being such awesome followers! </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(28, 47, 44); font-family:Verdana, Arial, Tahoma;font-size:13px;"><img src="http://www.websmileys.com/sm/happy/042.gif" width="25" height="15" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com93tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-7301743103856676172010-08-26T21:34:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:03:57.600-07:00Blog Hop (3) and Follow Friday! (2)<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="250" height="250" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(247, 244, 252); line-height: 19px; font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;font-size:14px;"><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(235, 15, 125); "><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; position: relative; " /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Book Blogger Hop is hosted by </span><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Crazy for Books</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Follow Friday is hosted by </span><a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Parajunkee's View</span></a></div><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></center><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This weeks question:</span></center><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">Do you use a rating system for your reviews and if so, what is it and why?</span></span></span></center><center><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></center><center style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>My answer:</b> Yes, I do have a rating system. I call it beasts :P. There are a total of 5 beasts: a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;">Turtle</span></span>, a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">Hippo</span></span>, a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6600;">Tiger</span></span>, an<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"> Elephant</span></span>, and a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF99FF;">Flamingo</span></span>. If they are all there, that means I loved the book. If only the turtle is there, that means the book was under my standards. I use a rating system because it helps me remember how much I enjoyed a book, and also it's useful because often when other blogs review the same book, they also have ratings, and I can compare them. Ratings are good for summing things up, and they are pretty powerful. Sometimes they tell me if I should consider picking up a book or not. Even if I know that I shouldn't be influenced by other peoples opinions.</span></center><center style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxfmlDIxu1vOKdUb_hM71Rd8pBokLpdXY4bxRqMrA4FTEGebMPImCUyOm1cH3JxBzhZOQQDDLQfpnylGl_XurpAY-sLuCOUHvWObkcWR933IUKU1cFkPxH9U41Ua-zzRpmYs_PqssSy4/s320/5+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510108605126985202" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 53px; " /></span></span></center><center style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><a href="http://thebookbuzzer.blogspot.com/p/my-rating-system.html">See my full rating system!</a></span></center><center style="text-align: center;"><br /></center><center style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">What is your answer to this weeks question? Let me know if your a new follower, and I'll follow you back!</span></center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-59214178662836494142010-08-23T18:00:00.000-07:002010-08-23T20:23:19.567-07:00Paper Towns by John Green<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclsD4NRxDJa9ro1900A5fr-gykSRJ3yeQ6eGxjtzOxpT-G_PU8Smv5ECl_nwChLVuM9GReguy8nNFEfrydBZmbokcvWYfSOJpIs3A9RCxGEfDytCQnNToZHjQIIX2cBs1samm__KPzVs/s1600/Paper+Towns+by+John+Green.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 208px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclsD4NRxDJa9ro1900A5fr-gykSRJ3yeQ6eGxjtzOxpT-G_PU8Smv5ECl_nwChLVuM9GReguy8nNFEfrydBZmbokcvWYfSOJpIs3A9RCxGEfDytCQnNToZHjQIIX2cBs1samm__KPzVs/s320/Paper+Towns+by+John+Green.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508811395500837698" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Title:</b> Paper Towns</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Author:</b> John Green</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>Publication Date:</b> October 16, 2008</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hardcover, 305 Pages</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night - dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they're for Q. - Summary from <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2914097.Paper_Towns">Goodreads</a></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The prologue was like a temptingly delectable cupcake. It revealed such a mysterious and enticing moment in which two nine year old best friends discovered a bloody, dead man lying under the tree by the town playground. That was so interesting to me because it was so different than any other book prologue I had ever read before. It was nothing remotely close to normal. The beginning was enjoyable because Green's 'set up' was smooth - the lay out of Quentin's life as a senior to introduce the main character was done well. Quentin and his friends, Radar and Ben, were hysterical teenagers who I found easy to relate to. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The beginning was fast paced, as it almost immediately started with Quentin and Margo Roth Spiegelman - his long time crush - going on a crazy, wild adventure on a night they will never forget. This berserk circumstance caused the entire rest of the book to be effected by that night. That was an enjoyable change in a storyline, because most books don't reach the climax until about three quarters of the book. Not only was the climax at the start, but there was also another, more important climax as a result of the first one, so I did not find the rest of the book boring at all. I was expecting that the next few weeks after Margo and Quentin's campaign of revenge, everything would be settled down and life would go on without any nostalgic thoughts from anyone. Instead, Margo Spiegelman disappeared, and her vanishing act was put to investigation by the one and only distressed Quentin. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The mystery that went with Margo and her small lead of "bread crumb" trails that hinted only to Quentin as to where she fled were brilliant! (However, none are to be mentioned here for the protection of not releasing spoilers) I eagerly followed Margo's trail alongside Quentin every step of the way, whenever he found new evidence and got closer to uncovering the whereabouts of his childhood crush. The so called Paper Towns that Quentin discovered were neat, real-yet-not places that I had never heard of until Green introduced them into the story. Paper Towns are some of the coolest, non-existent concepts I have ever come across.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The twenty-one hour car trip with three senior boys and one senior girl was hilarious and amusing. Every hour of the trip was the start of a new chapter, and each chapter added new humor and old jokes from the previous chapters. The unexpected problems that the crew had along the trip were fun-filled and fantastic. I found that at every moment in the trip I could not put the book down, mainly because I was laughing so hard, and that just caused me to keep on reading because I was craving for another supply of stomach-aching laughter. Ben was a favorite character of mine during the road trip, perhaps because he always seemed as if he was in constant need of the restroom at all points along the drive. And when there was not a plan for a rest stop for another four hours, the restroom improvisational skills of the clan were a riot to read about. I also grew to love the character Radar, who was another addition to the calamities of the road trip. Radar was such a comical high-schooler, who had quite the strong personality and the strangest background. He was a strong leader and a great member of the crew.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> In the end, after when Quentin ditches his very own high school graduation to find a special someone he is head-over-heels with, I found quite a few philosophical thoughts within him. There were life changing realizations and moments that had accumulated inside of him throughout his experiences that were never released until those moments at the end of the story. Every bit of those deep, psychological grasps that he caught on to made it a truly beautiful novel. The main reason why I am not rating it as high as I may seem to want to is simply because it was, to me, a little bit childish at points with the teenage humor. Some of the humor was a bit crude, and books that deserve higher are ones that aren't so, well, goofy. This was a fun read, but nothing too amazing to consider a high quality young adult book.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDy4ixcDMdc7DE3m-E4JNEbnlFGzRvoC11J9LKAlKeI_W7teyHVa0dlkvmVRFFpINZ3B8KQ3ytr4e6-s_ntOMXKL7x4OGIfnJdgqUozyjSbHU4pk5GzhISVAf1sGxQSRJhRaqfuLCO6ts/s400/4+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508811585082397458" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">4 Beasts</span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-24655751544782679302010-08-21T10:40:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:04:33.639-07:00Book Blogger Hop! (3)<div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="200" height="200" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Blog Hop is hosted by </span><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Crazy for Books</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So, I was in D.C this past week and I just got back at around 3 this morning, so I missed Follow Friday :( but there's always good ol' Blog Hop to count on!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This Weeks Question:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">How many blogs do you follow?</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><b>My Answer: </b>Well, on my old book blog account I am currently following 272 blogs. On this account, it's around 20 since i'm still adding to my old account, so in total it would be about 282 because lots of follows on The Book Buzzer are repeats of the blogs I am already following.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33FF33;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So, how many blogs are you following?</span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-67947604956563140042010-08-14T17:58:00.000-07:002010-08-14T19:15:30.217-07:00The Cardturner by Louis Sachar<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzA324SQtB1njUxXICm5uWWOJGyBPMWrcatVnUf_dahpo_c4pzBksWFK5MpzySedW4ZcAs6fbiHSvtS_sqFt7ZG1mQGbU4U7Yqk0yjw6Jahjcqzb5A__keQEzO_4kM7NU0g5zSrEEYok/s1600/The+Cardturner+by+Louis+Sachar.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzA324SQtB1njUxXICm5uWWOJGyBPMWrcatVnUf_dahpo_c4pzBksWFK5MpzySedW4ZcAs6fbiHSvtS_sqFt7ZG1mQGbU4U7Yqk0yjw6Jahjcqzb5A__keQEzO_4kM7NU0g5zSrEEYok/s320/The+Cardturner+by+Louis+Sachar.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505453674294506274" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Title:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> The Cardturner</span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Author</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">: Louis Sachar</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Publication Date:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> May 11, 2010</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">hardcover, 352 pages</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">When Alton's ageing, blind uncle asks him to attend bridge games with him, he agrees. After all, it's better than a crappy summer job in the local shopping mall, and Alton's mother thinks it might secure their way to a good inheritance sometime in the future. But, like all apparently casual choices in any of Louis Sachar's wonderful books, this choice soon turns out to be a lot more complex than Alton could ever have imagined. As his relationship with his uncle develops, and he meets the very attractive Toni, deeply buried secrets are uncovered and a romance that spans decades is finally brought to a conclusion. Alton's mother is in for a surprise! - Summary from </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6783129-the-cardturner"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Goodreads</span></a></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">When I first heard/realized that this book was about bridge, I instantly thought about how it was definitely going to have boring, slow parts wherever bridge was involved, so I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about picking it up. However, Louis Sachar is one of my all time favorite authors, ever since I read his genious mastermind book, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Holes. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6600;">The Cardturner</span></i> turned out to be hilarious from the start. Alton Richards, the main character, pretty much had the average personality of a teenager. But I found his life story to be much more interesting than that of a normal teen, especially because it was largely effected by his grumpy, bridge loving rich uncle, and his wacky-crazy-not-rich parents. Both those components concocted the multiple humorous moments in the story. One of my favorite family moments is in the beginning, when Alton is on the phone with Uncle Lester for a attempt at a friendly conversation that fails because of Lester's reclusive personality. His mom continuously pesters Alton to tell Uncle Lester that he loves him, and he's his favorite uncle. Alton describes his mothers tone: "Her voice infused with the same forced enthusiasm she used to describe the deliciousness of canned </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#006600;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">p</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#66FF99;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">." Anyways, even if i'm the only one who's still here right now, I thought it was pretty clever. When Uncle Lester's health made a turn for the worse, it enticed me to go deeper into the book. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The cover is a mystery I still have yet to uncover. It's a mystery because I don't understand what it has to do with the book at all. There's a boy lying down on a couple benches at a subway station, with a book on his face. Alton, perhaps? I don't recall any scenes where that particular moment or setting for that matter is even in the story. If anyone has any guesses, I would love to hear them!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The parts of the book that were made up of Bridge explanations were definitely not as boring as I had expected. The way Sachar tried to make you accumulate knowledge about the game was EASY to understand. Squeezes, trumps, no-trumps, cardinal directions, doubling, re-doubling, Yarboroughs and bidding were only a few of the many parts of Bridge that I learned from reading <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6600;">The Cardturner</span></i>. Every explanation was put in the simplest way possible, and even if you didn't bother to read those parts, there was always a section outlined by a black box that summed up the section's 'lesson'. There were still quite a few parts that I didn't follow, and even then, they weren't extremely important to know. It was interesting to learn that there was such a thing as a cardturner, who reads out loud the cards that their player has to them and plays the cards according to what the player tells them to play. To Alton, it turned out to be much more than a simple job for his blind uncle. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I grew fond of Uncle Lester after he grew blind, early on in the book. When Lester did talk (because he rarely did) , for the most part, he was inspiring. Sachar had a clever explanation of how to memorize cards, using the words b-o-y-g-i-r-l-c-a-t-d-o-g and simply mixing up the letters, and then putting that technique into Uncle Lester's hands. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">My absolute most favorite part of the book is at page 144. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I learned something bewildering at that page. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Something life-startling. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Something called SYNCHRONICITY. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Okay, moving on from the dramatics. Synchronicity is by far the coolest word I have ever learned. "It's when two related things occur without any apparent cause-and-effect." "synchronicity was different from a mere coincidence. With synchronicity you feel that there's a difinite connection. You just don't know what that connection is."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Story Example: When Alton remembered that one day, years ago, he thought randomly thought about a kid who used to be his neighbor and was also in his grade named Doug. They were not friends, and all he remembered was that he asked Doug to be his buddy for a field trip because Doug looked lonely. The day after he had the flashback memory of the field trip, his dad told him that Doug died in a car crash the previous day. Does that seem like synchronicity to you? It does to me. I thought that was pretty amazing! Synchronicity is the coolest and most useful piece of information I have stumbled upon in a book. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The Bridge journey with blind Uncle Lester and the kid who dealt his cards, Alton, was more than just explaining a bunch of games they played together. It was about meeting inspiring and peculiar people, learning life lessons, solving personal problems, strong bonding, and falling in love. It wasn't just a book about bridge. It was also the story of the Richards-Castenada family mystery, which involved Alton's loony/crazy dead great-aunt, Annabel King, who Sachar writes about deceptively in a way to infer that, well, she may not be completely dead after all.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It was also the story of Toni Castenada, her love of the game Bridge, and her wacky explanation to why she was being so rude and said shut up loudly to Alton's face when they first met. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It was the story of Alton and his conscience, Uncle Lester, and how they worked together somehow, without actually physically being in the same room, to bring them to the biggest event of their lives. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">From before the beginning, the reader is told by Louis Sachar that Bridge is a dying game. After reading <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF6600;">The Cardturner</span></i>, I hope to be one of the many young adults who have been inspired by Alton's story to bring the classic game back to life. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6kf2zsUxGvYonlGjeNGa3q3Juj8aIROAXVZU1-IvkroSOHlQD64edAleLFmevZP9R0zOzI8CpN_T08yeMkQYXWIh1kQ5cVzH3SDqpg-exf9jFBD02lurVCs_-BmeRA7GM9XlYbZVz9w/s400/4.5+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5505453811755772370" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 65px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">4.5 Beasts</span></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-54049094136866904302010-08-13T16:15:00.000-07:002010-08-13T16:57:32.750-07:00Follow Friday and Blog Hop!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/"><img src="http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt34/crazybookblog/cfbmemebutton-2.png" alt="Book Blogger Hop" width="215" height="250" /></a> <a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/search/label/FF" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4710921228_bf32d46f6d_o.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Blog Hop is hosted at <a href="http://www.crazy-for-books.com/">Crazy For Books</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Follow Friday is hosted by <a href="http://www.parajunkee.com/2010/08/feature-follow-friday-8.html">Parajunkee's View</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This Weeks Blog Hop Question: </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">How many books do you have on your 'To Be Read Shelf'?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><b>My Answer:</b> Oh, I have quite a few. However, not even close to as many as Crazy For Books has, which is like over, what, 700? Wow! I just went to multiple library's yesterday for a re-stock of what to read, and I have about... hmmm... 20 to-read books that I actually have a copy of right now. However, on the 'virtual' to-be read list, I definitely have hundreds of more books!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Follow Friday's question is supposed to be answered in the comments at Parajunkee's View, but I decided why not put my answer down on this post anyways since I'm blogging about Follow Friday already? So here's the question:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33FF33;"><b>What is your absolutely AMAZING FANTASTIC GORGEOUS book?</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><b>My Answer:</b> That's a hard one to answer. My amazingly fantastic gorgeous book would have to be Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. It's amazing and fantastic in so many ways, and how can you not consider it gorgeous? Not only is the cover ravishing with the whole theme of winter blue trees and a stark contrasting red dot on the i in the title, but also, the font in the book is blue. The overall tone of Shiver is astounding.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">So how many to-read books do you have, and whats your absolutely amazing fantastic gorgeous book?</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4544147859701950206.post-16196278106512213252010-08-11T19:34:00.000-07:002010-08-12T14:32:49.327-07:00Linger by Maggie Stiefvater<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSlJgN6fKteeuYWQ1uWfYq5dCtDIYR5spQ6kzXcHhr4PfKlHllNc59or7CKLwDIpAKQ9NxejYY1ko8eGAwfMWJPNqWLDCOWCTtXUKIuyWdX0oHd1ovx_TEsNi5iPZesUyYon7HlS8FEg/s1600/Linger+by+Maggie+Stiefvater.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDSlJgN6fKteeuYWQ1uWfYq5dCtDIYR5spQ6kzXcHhr4PfKlHllNc59or7CKLwDIpAKQ9NxejYY1ko8eGAwfMWJPNqWLDCOWCTtXUKIuyWdX0oHd1ovx_TEsNi5iPZesUyYon7HlS8FEg/s320/Linger+by+Maggie+Stiefvater.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504357357843130338" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Title:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Linger</span></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Author:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Maggie Stiefvater</span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Genre:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Paranormal Romance</span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Publication Date:</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> July 13, 2010</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">hardcover, 362 pages</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;">In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past...and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves...and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love-the light and the dark, the warm and the cold-in a way you will never forget.</span></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;">-Summary from </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6654313-linger"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC9933;">Goodreads</span></a></span></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Once again, I just wanted to mention how cool it was that the font of this book is </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">GREEN</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sadly, my copy was an ARC, so it wasn't. But the new, bookstore type are always green. On the cover, there is a green silhouette of a girl in the top right part, and a green silhouetted wolf in the bottom left part. In </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Shiver</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, there is a silhouetted blue wolf. I wonder what </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Forever</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, the third book in the series will have on the cover? My guess is two people, Sam and Grace? I hope so. And I've been hearing alot of questions about the next color scheme of the book. That would be cool if it was purple, but I really have no idea.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Moving on to the book, once again Stiefvater doesn't disappoint. Linger was filled with the same amount of excitement as in Shiver. The only major con of this book was that it had very slow moments in the first half of the book. My theory behind that is because since the Sam problem was resolved already in the first book, everything had to be calm and settled before Maggie could jump into another conflict. I think that is a smart and reasonable move.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I enjoyed how the point of view in this book added the characters Isabel, Jack's brother, and Cole, one of the new werewolves that Beck brought back with him from Canada. They added more depth and insight to the story. Cole especially, was an intriguing character who I suspected to have been the happiest and most care-free person in the world because of his fame. I was wrong. Cole was quite the opposite of that. I never fully understood why Beck chose Cole to become a werewolf , and it was pretty unclear in the story. Maybe Beck thought he would be useful, but Cole surely could not have expected the ending (sorry for the lack of information but i'm not doing spoilers), so in the end he was great help but his choosing is still a mys<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">tery to me.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The beginning of the book was medium-paced, the middle of the book heated up, and there was a major turning point in the story. Then, it got slow again, and then fast, slow, then the ending was just as adrenaline-rus</span>hing as the ending in Shiver. Linger's intensity level continuously fluctuated. The character development and each characters voice was absolutely fantastic. Every character had a different personality -finally a book like that!- and Maggie Stiefvater's skill in talent and writing made up more than half of the amazingness (not a word, too bad) of the book. Without the awe-striking characters and the fabulous writing, it wouldn't be anything close to as good as it is now. Maggie really knows exactly how, girls and boys alike, think. She knows how to develop a character, and she knows the person she's writing about more than from the inside-out.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The plot, I have to admit, was not as admirable as Shivers, probably once again noting that the situation of Sam being a werewolf was already resolved in the last part of Shiver. That forced the beginning of Linger to have to slow down the pace and get the storyline set up for the next plot. The Linger plot was just as clever and addicting, but it was spread out differently through the book so thats why I didn't enjoy it as much. I liked the gradual heating up of the story, even though there were many long, slow parts. Slowly the energy built and built, and the ending had so much fervor it wasn't even just like a balloon popping, it was as if the same amount of balloons that lift up the Carl Fredricksen's house in the movie UP popped all as a result of a chain reaction. The ending was similar to Shiver in many ways such as the excitement of it, yet it was also the complete opposite. There were more heart bursting moments. Linger is bewildering, nerve-wrecking and powerful.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">WATCH OUT FOR THE THIRD BOOK IN THE SERIES OF THE WOLVES OF MERCY FALLS, CALLED </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">FOREVER</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. COMING IN JULY 2011!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5DegZSyDyVoEW5qwllhRNi_1GciDFjpISdwAofEd11wQg6_v38JpqUltDj3KOmwNOZVveg__h3wu0VgmDBhfEtzg70NVh_6Cl7grZLNXsDHsGmZTrXpkYNX3IWOHzhxbcMrCpG9CyuI/s400/4+Beasts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504357460747072882" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 66px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">4 Beasts</span></span></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3