Monthly Archives: February 2013

Book Review: Ashes

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Ashes CoverBook: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Published September 2011|Published by EgmontUSA

E-book|Borrowed from the library|361 pages

Series: Ashes Trilogy #1

Genre: YA: Post-Apocalyptic

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Ilsa J. Bick’s Website

Summary: It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

After listening to Drowning Instinct, I knew I had to read Ashes!  Ashes was an interesting but strange book that was hard to put down.

You can’t go wrong with zombie-like people and an EMP that destroyed electronics and killed people.   There are so many unanswered questions, and I really want to know what happens next, especially with that ending!  I’m not surprised that there was a cliffhanger.  Let me tell you, that was one cliffhanger I was not expecting!

I’m really impressed with what Bick did with the zombies and the Zap.  It’s an interesting combination- and one that’s a nice change from the typical zombie story where there’s some illness or something that turns people into zombies.  Plus, the only technology that works seems to be from the good ‘ole days, which means you’d need some serious survival skills.  I really feel like making sure I’m prepared for an earthquake now…

But back to the book.  It’s really creepy in that “this could really happen” kind of way.  Not necessarily the zombie part but the electromagnetic pulse part of it.  Although, if you think about it, something like that would have to have an effect on people.  But I was completely drawn in, and you can’t help but think about what you’d do if you had no way to figure out what was going on.  If people Changed…if people dropped dead…if you had a brain tumor and couldn’t smell but all of a sudden you could smell and you did feel better.

The characters are also great.  Alex is definitely a really tough character, but I couldn’t help but love Tom and Ellie…and I think I may have a soft spot for Ellie’s grandpa…even though he had a really brief appearance.  We meet quite a few interesting characters along the way, and about halfway through, we end up in a town called Rule, where there is a community doing what they can to survive and make it through.

As much as I enjoyed the book overall, I think I enjoyed the part of the novel that takes place in the woods more than when Alex arrives in Rule.  Things are pretty well-paced through the book, and time passes reasonably well, but…I don’t know, Rule just didn’t seem as interesting as the time surviving out in the “wild.”  Maybe we’ll get the back story on Rule, because there is more to Rule than what we get in  Ashes.  It definitely felt like two different books, so while I wasn’t surprised that Alex would find her way to a surviving community, I was surprised at how truly different things were once Alex arrived in Rule.

Final Thoughts:

Ashes was a quick, fun but really creepy read.  I’m amazed at the world Bick created and the characters that populate a world where an EMP destroyed technology and killed and changed people.  I didn’t particularly enjoy Alex’s time in Rule, but I have the feeling there’s a lot going on in Rule that we never saw.  Ashes gets 4 stars.

Book Review: The Outsiders

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

The Outsiders CoverBook: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton|Narrated by Jim Fyfe

Published June 2006|Originally Published 1967|Published by Listening Library

Audio Book|From the library|Run Time: 5 hours, 27 minutes

Series: No

Genre: YA/Classics

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|S.E. Hinton’s Website

Summary: According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for “social”) has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he’s always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers–until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy’s skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.

The Outsiders is one of those books that never made it onto the required reading lists for school…but I’m pretty sure we watched the movie, because parts of it seemed really familiar when I was listening to it.

Honestly though?  It was okay.  I mean, it is a classic, and as far as YA goes, it’s pretty important.

Here’s what I liked: the relationships between all the greasers and how nobody’s what they seem.  I kind of liked the “them vs us” part of it, and that family isn’t necessarily made up of people you’re related to.  For something written by a teen, I was impressed by how well-written it was.  Not that things written by teen are automatically horribly-written or anything, but I think it being written by a teen is why it’s gone over so well.

But…I really couldn’t connect with it.  While I appreciated The Outsiders, I also just…feel sort of meh about it.   It was easy to listen to, but I’m trying to rack my brain for reasons why it’s just okay, and I’m coming up with nothing.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I just couldn’t get into it.

I sort of hate to say this, but there were several times when the book sounded like a 16-year-old girl wrote it.  She did describe everything really well, and I could picture everything so clearly!  And while it felt really realistic…there was also something unrealistic about it too.  I know absolutely nothing about the time in which the book was set or anything like that, but there were times when it was hard to believe that the characters really acted the way they did.

Hinton really brought things to life, and it definitely came through in the audio book.  Fyfe did a great job narrating, and brought the characters to life.  He also did a great job making all of the characters sound different- you knew who was who, and no one sounded similar.

Final Thoughts:

The Outsiders is a book I don’t really have strong feelings about.  It was just okay for me, and while I appreciate it as a classic and as a book written for teens in a time when there didn’t seem to be a lot of books for teens, I just couldn’t get into it.  There are things I liked but overall…it’s just not my cup of tea.  It’s still worth reading, though.  It gets 2 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors That I’d Put On My Auto-Buy List

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top 10 lists based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top 10 Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Characters I’d Put On My Auto-Buy List

This is one I’ve been looking forward to.  Stopping at 10 was a little hard, but it was a lot of fun thinking about those authors that I love so much that I will buy anything they come out with…no matter what that book is.

  1. Rachel Caine.  It’s been a while since I’ve talked about how much I love Rachel Caine.  But I do, and it does not matter what she writes, because I WILL BUY IT.  She has great characters that grow and change will still keeping them consistent.  
  2. Alison Weir.  I love her.  I will buy anything- absolutely anything- she writes.  I love her to the point that she’s really the only person I’ve read as far as Tudor non-fiction goes, and I really enjoy her historical fiction because she sticks to history while creating this imaginative world.
  3. Cynthia Hand.  Have I mentioned how much I loved her Unearthly trilogy?  Because I love it, and I will read anything she writes because of how much I loved it.
  4. Marissa Meyer.  Because Cinder and Scarlet (even though I’m not done with Scarlet yet) are completely awesome.
  5. Gayle Forman.  Um…because of If I Stay and Where She Went.  That is enough of an explanation, right?
  6. John Green.  I’m not even going to explain this one.  If you really need/want to know why, go read The Fault In Our Stars of Looking For Alaska.
  7. J.K.  Rowling.  Another one I’m not going to explain.  If you don’t get it, you are very strange…and there’s a chance I might not talk to you.  (Just kidding).  (I think).
  8. Julie Kagawa.  The Iron Fey is one of my favorite series, and even though I liked The Immortal Rules and The Lost Rules, I don’t love them the way that I love The Iron Fey.  But I love Julie Kagawa enough that I will read anything she writes.  Because she is that amazing.
  9. Libba Bray.  Beauty Queens was hysterical and I loved her Gemma Doyle series, and I will read anything she writes because I have enjoyed everything I’ve read by her.
  10. Maria V. Snyder.  I have only read a couple books by her, but I NEED to read everything she’s written because I am impressed with the worlds that she creates.

Gilmore Girls 2×6: Presenting Lorelei Gilmore

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Presenting Lorelei Gilmore originally aired November 6, 2001.  It was written by Sheila R. Lawrence and was directed by Chris Long.

We open this episode with the requisite Friday night dinner.  Lorelei and Rory arrive to find that Richard and Emily are fighting about Richard turning down invitations to events on their behalf, and how Emily is the co-chair of an important fundraiser and how she’ll look bad if they don’t go.  Rory wants to leave, but it’s really entertaining to Lorelei, who says it’s dinner theater.  Finally, Richard and Emily notice Lorelei and Rory are there, and they’re just standing there awkwardly as the credits start rolling.

Another week where I comment on the opening scene!  This time around, I found myself wondering why Emily can’t go by herself.  Granted, appearances are really important to Emily (and probably important to her friends and acquaintances) but couldn’t she tell people Richard couldn’t make it, or bring someone with her?  It’s a little weird to me but then again, the world I live in is very different than Emily’s.

We next see Lorelei and Rory at Luke’s, where we have this moment where Jess comes down to help out Luke, wearing a Metallica shirt…and Luke tells Jess to go change into proper clothes, because he’s not wearing proper work attire.  This sets up a great moment later on in the episode.

Emily is having tea with her friends, and learns how much she’s missed out on over the last few weeks.  Rory stops by to get a book, and meets Emily’s friends.  Next thing we know, Rory’s home, and telling Lorelei how she’s going to be in the ball.  Lorelei doesn’t like this, because I think it’s pretty well-established at this point that the life Emily and Richard has doesn’t appeal to her, and she talks about how when she ran away from that life, she thought Rory would be running with her.

There are random moments like these when the thought that Rory might want bits and pieces of that life never occurs to Lorelei.  It’s really like Lorelei assumes that because she doesn’t want it, Rory won’t want it either.  Was part of it Emily?  Probably.  And was part of it Rory wanting to make Emily happy even though a debutante ball isn’t her thing?  Also likely.  But seriously, I really felt like it never occurred to Lorelei that Rory might want it.

Rory’s father is supposed to present her to society, and Chris agrees…and actually shows up to do it.  Chris shows up driving a Volvo, gives Rory the compact Oxford English Dictionary that he couldn’t afford to buy back in season one.  Lorelei makes fun of Chris for driving a Volvo, and is surprised that Chris has a job and is driving a car.

Emily and Lorelei went shopping, and Rory is good on pantyhose for quite some time…because Emily is convinced Rory needs 12 pairs.  Richard can’t pick up his suit, Emily says she’ll get it, and Lorelei asks if things are okay, and Emily says things are fine.  Patty teaches Dean and Rory how to waltz, while Chris and Lorelei talk about how Chris likes the stability of having a job.

Now we get to the part of the episode where things get a little more interesting.  Rory arrives and gets ready, while Lorelei (surprise, surprise) is at the bar.  Lorelei is surprised that she and Rory were there before Emily, who isn’t happy with the folding chairs and how the debutante ball looks.  Emily and Richard didn’t come together, and we see them fighting about how Richard didn’t want to come.  Richard is tired of all of the social responsibilities.  We learn that Richard is getting phased out at work, and how he doesn’t want to do something different, even though Emily says he could do something different.  Rory comes out and says she’s next…so Lorelei goes out, and watches Rory get presented to society with Emily, who says that nothing has turned out the way it was supposed to.

After it’s over, we see Lorelei, Rory, Dean and Chris walking through Stars Hollow.  Dean needs to get out of the tux, Chris needs to go bed early because he needs to go back to Boston, and Lorelei and Rory are hungry.  Chris and Lorelei talk and says that since Chris is now living in Boston, he can come see them, and if traffic’s bad, he could spend the weekend.  This is when we learn that Chris is seeing someone named Sherry, who told him to get it together, or he would lose her…so he got it together.  He goes home, while Lorelei looks a little disappointed by Chris seeing someone.

Remember when Jess wore the Metallica shirt, and Luke said it wasn’t proper work attire, and that it was setting up something later on?  Well, here is that moment, when we see Jess dressed exactly like Luke!  Definitely amusing.

We end the episode with Lorelei going to see Emily, just to hang out, and how Lorelei is there if Emily needs anything.

Favorite Lines And/Or Scenes:

Nothing really jumped out at me in this episode.

Pop Culture:

Trident Gum, Endless Love, George Lucas, Spinal Tap, Metallica

Final Thoughts:

There’s more recap than commentary in this one, but…there’s not much I actually want to comment on this week.  I’m not surprised by Emily’s reaction to Richard’s work problems, and I can get the social responsibilities are tiring…but what do you expect, when you have the life you do?  This was an okay episode, so it gets 2 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: Renegade

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Renegade CoverBook: Renegade by J.A. Souders

Published November 2012|Published by Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC

E-book|Purchased for my Nook|352 pages

Series: Yes, Elysium Chronicles #1

Genre: YA: Dystopic

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|J.A. Souders’ Website

Summary: Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. Her memories have been altered. Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb… and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

Renegade was a pretty interesting read.  You’re reading it, and you’re drawn in by the cover, which is so beautiful, and by the end of it, you’re wondering how a world that seemed so idyllic and amazing was such a strange, messed up world.

I love the details and how imaginative everything is.  The gardens seem beautiful, and at first glance, it seems like an interesting and beautiful place to live.  Evelyn remembering the memories that had bee altered by Mother…I loved how that unfolded and how she slowly started to remember things.  And then the ending happened.  You can be sure I’ll be reading the next one to see what happens and how everything will play out.

I liked Evelyn, Mother was creepy and mysterious and Gavin…I really liked Gavin.  I thought he was really interesting, and things really started to change for Evelyn when he stumbled into Elysium.  Evelyn…poor thing!  She is pretty resiliant, I’ll give her that.  You got glimpses of who she was in between all the brainwashing and I just wanted to know if she would make it through okay.  Which she does, in case anyone was wondering.

As for Mother…goodness!  The lengths she’ll go to in order to get what she wants and to create this society that’s perfect and obeys her every word…it’s horrifying and creepy and you know there’s more to her story than what we got.  Seriously, I LOVE the details and how layered this world is.  I really felt like Souders put a lot of thought into how Elysium formed and thought about all the little details that make it work.

And no dystopic novel is complete without a romance!  I’m not sure about Gavin and Evelyn yet, but I’m sort of intrigued with them as a couple because Evelyn’s been raised (and trained/brainwashed) to believe that Surface Dwellers are evil, while he tries to convince her that how she grew up and the world that she lives in is…well…kind of crazy ridiculously weird.  I like them as friends, but I think I need a little more time before I decide if I like them as a couple.

I liked that it was set underwater, which REALLY needs to be used more as a setting!  It worked really well, and something about the book being underwater totally added to the creepy mysterious of the book.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked Renegade.  I didn’t LOVE it, but I found it to be a really fun but creepy read.  The details are great, with a lot of different characters who are interesting and mysterious and likeable.  Renegade gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Eona

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Eona CoverBook: Eona by Alison Goodman

Published June 2011|Published by Penguin Group

E-book|Borrowed From The Library|399 pages

Series: Eon #2

Genre: YA Fantasy

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Alison Goodman’s Website

Summary: Eon has been revealed as Eona, the first female Dragoneye in hundreds of years. Along with fellow rebels Ryko and Lady Dela, she is on the run from High Lord Sethon’s army. The renegades are on a quest for the black folio, stolen by the drug-riddled Dillon; they must also find Kygo, the young Pearl Emperor, who needs Eona’s power and the black folio if he is to wrest back his throne from the self-styled “Emperor” Sethon. Through it all, Eona must come to terms with her new Dragoneye identity and power–and learn to bear the anguish of the ten dragons whose Dragoneyes were murdered. As they focus their power through her, she becomes a dangerous conduit for their plans. . . .

Eona, with its pulse-pounding drama and romance, its unforgettable fight scenes, and its surprises, is the conclusion to an epic only Alison Goodman could create.

As much as I liked Eon, I loved Eona!  There are so many twists and turns and I liked that I didn’t know what was going to happen!  Just when I thought things were going one way, something unexpected would happen, and I would totally be caught off guard.

Did things end up how I expected?  Of course they did, but I was really surprised by how they got there.

I was pretty surprised with how I liked Lord Ido more than I expected, Kygo less then I expected and not sure if I liked or disliked Eona.  Dela was a great character that I really liked reading throughout the novel, but for the most part, I was surprised by the characters.

Let’s start with Kygo.  I get his frustration with Eona, but he was just plain wishy-washy.  He’d act all noble one minute, but next thing you know, he’d come out with some plan that Eona wouldn’t know about until he thought it would be a good time to know…or if Ido somehow managed to get him to tell Eona.  Granted, Eona had her own secrets that she shared with Ido or kept to herself, but you also saw how conflicted she was.  With Kygo, I just got the sense he was using her in a slightly better way than Sethon would have used her, and I felt like we only saw one side of Kygo.  His resistance to Ido helping was understandable, but also annoying.  When you have 2 dragoneyes left, and one needs to be trained by the other, it’s usually a good idea to let that happen.  And trusting Eona would be a good idea too…

Ido was really interesting.  He’s still the bad guy- although he seems to have a little bit more good in him than Sethon- but he’s a lot more likeable  than I ever expected.  He and Eona have this really interesting relationship that was set in motion at the end of Eon, and we really see it in Eona…especially with the connection they have because she healed him, which is interesting but also something that no one can explain.  Goodman does a great job at making him more likeable…even when he does what you’d expect from him in the end.

And we can’t forget about Eona!  There were times when I liked her and times when she was so irritating!  I did like that she was conflicted about things but her insistence on constantly being right got a little trying at times.  I totally get why she hid certain things, and in the end, I really do think she did the RIGHT thing.  But she, along with Ido, had a lot of character…and while I don’t usually do the team [insert guy here] thing, I think I kind of like her and Ido together.  Granted, I don’t think either guy is a good fit for her, but Ido is a slightly better fit than Kygo.  At least for me.

A lot of things from Eon made so much more sense in Eona!  I really loved how things were explained, and while a few things were unresolved and that there were no clear answers for some things, I didn’t mind at all, because some things may never be known.  Things did wrap up a little too nicely, but I’m glad things ended the way they did.  I’m kind of surprised there are only two books in this series, but I think it works as 2, because things HAPPENED.  It’s definitely a lot more eventful than Eon.

Final Thoughts:

I loved Eona!  There’s so much going on, and while the characters were irritating at times, they also had a lot more to them.  I loved that the book picked up where the first one left off.  Eona gets 5 stars.

Book Review: Entangled

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Entangled CoverBook: Entangled by Nikki Jefford

Published February 2012|Self-Published  by Nikki Jefford

E-book|From NetGalley|142 pages

Series: Spellbound #1

Genre: YA: Fantasy/Mystery/Paranormal

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Nikki Jefford’s Website

Summary: Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.

Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.

The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.

Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection and disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.

I liked Entangled a lot more than I expected.  I’m always intrigued with magic and witches and warlocks, and add in a mysterious death and trying to bring back the dead, you have a novel I really want to read.

Let’s start with…characters!  Charlene and Graylee seem to be polar opposites. There’s a lot of potential for the two of them, but I just felt like I didn’t get to know them very well or get a good sense of their personalities, other than Charlene being the popular, evil one and Graylee being the nice but not too popular, good one.  I’m hoping we see more of who they really are in the books to come.  As for the other characters, Raj and Adrian were definitely interesting, and I really liked them as characters.  As for their mom, she was just…frustrating.  Like, she didn’t seem to care that Charlene destroyed Graylee’s things or that Charlene blocked Graylee’s magic for years.

The Magic: I was intrigued by the magic, and how modern it felt.  There are no wands or brooms in sight as far as magic is concerned, but there does appear to be a code of ethics, which fit but was also intriguing.  I really wish we had more details about the magic and the magical community.

The Plot: I was intrigued by Charlene and Graylee residing in the same body…but with the girls switching places every 24 hours.  It’s a really weird Freaky Friday kind of moment, and you’d think there would be some sort of melt-down on Graylee’s part when realizing that she’s in her twin’s body.  I kind of wish there was some sort of reaction on Graylee’s part- and even on their mom’s part, who pretty much leaves them to figure out how to take care of it themselves.  I get their mom gave up her magic, but still…I feel like there’s something that their mom could have done to help them.  Things seemed to drag on at times, and other times, things felt rushed.

The Ending: It was abrupt, and things seemed to wrap up a little too well.  But it’s also the point when I started liking Entangled.  Up until the ending, I wasn’t sure if I liked Entangled or not.  But…I am really curious as to how things are going to work out.

Final Thoughts:

While I enjoyed Entangled, I still have mixed feelings.  I just really wanted more world-building and details about the magic, and seeing Graylee and Charlene have distinct personalities that were more than good but not popular and evil popular girl.  Still, I really like the premise, and I want to know the answers to all of my unresolved questions!  Entangled gets 3 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Paranormal Characters

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top 10 lists based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top 10 Tuesdays here.

Top 10 YA Paranormal Characters

This week we get to pick our favorite characters from the genre of our choosing!  If I had to pick a favorite genre in YA, I think it be paranormal.  It’s nothing against the other genres, because I like them too.  I just really love anything paranormal!

  1. Zara from Need.  This is one of my favorite series, and I love how protective Zara is of her friends and family.  Plus, I love the randomness is each book- whether she’s putting together a pixie survival guide or reciting her fears when she’s freaked out…I just love her and her quirks.
  2. Laurel from Wings.  Wings is another favorite series, and she’s another great character.  I love how plant-like she is, and how much she loves fruit!  Anyone who loves sunshine is awesome in my book.
  3. Evie from Paranormalcy.  No list would be complete without Evie!  I know I’ve said this, like 50 million times already, but any character who kicks ass while wearing pink and sparkles is completely and totally awesome.
  4. Meghan from The Iron Fey series.  Another favorite series, and Meghan’s a pretty cool character.  I love seeing how she goes from regular girl to ruler of the Iron Fey.
  5. Cassiel from The Outcast Season.  One, she’s a former dijinn.  Two, she’s now in a human body.  And three, she’s such a cool character who’s still adjusting to life in a human body who’s trying to save not only humanity but the world.  And she’s pretty bad-ass.
  6. Anna from Sweet Evil.  Anna’s an interesting character, and overall, I really liked her innocence and how good she was.  But I also like that there’s this dark side to her, which we don’t really see in Sweet Evil.  I’m curious about her dark side, which may (and probably will) come out at some point during this series.
  7. Clara from Unearthly.  I love Clara, and after reading Boundless, I think I love her even more.  She’s a great character, and I loved seeing her figure out her purpose in life.
  8. Myrnin from The Morganville Vampires.  I am a HUGE Rachel Caine fan, so it’s not surprising that two characters from two different series have ended up on my list (Cassiel is the other character).  He’s Myrnin- bizarre, funny and interesting.  I always look forward to seeing what he’s going to do next, because he has this mad scientist thing going on.  Add in the fact that he’s a vampire and several hundred years old, and you have this really unpredictable character!
  9. Helen from Dreamless.  I’m never sure where mythology and fairy tale re-tellings fall, in terms of genre and whatnot but Dreamless is sort of paranormal-ish, so I’m so including Helen on this weeks list!  I’m not sure what it is about Helen, but I just really like her.
  10. Kaylee from Soul Screamers.  I love that she’s a bean sidhe (better known as a banshee).  Seriously, it’s not something you see in a novel very often, and I love that she has to work with Nash.  Their abilities work so well together, but I really love how Kaylee wants to help people and do some good in the world.

Gilmore Girls 2×5: Nick And Nora/Sid And Nancy

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Nick and Nora/Sid And Nancy originally aired October 30, 2001.   It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Michael Katleman.

We start off this episode with Rory not wanting to be late for school because she has new classes, her locker’s been moved and she needs to find the best way to her classes and time to get a new locker in case the one they assigned to her doesn’t open or something.  Lane comes in with an order for the music store near Rory’s school, and we see Taylor comes in with boy scouts.

Back to Luke, who is now carrying all kinds of groceries and runs into Lorelei.  We learn that Luke’s nephew is coming to stay with Luke because his sister can’t handle Jess.  Lorelei asks Luke a lot of questions, like how old Jess is, how long he’s staying and what sort of trouble Jess is in and Lorelei is concerned about Luke being able to handle it and how Luke needs to ask Liz some questions.

At school, Paris and Rory see each other and Rory tries to get Paris to agree to co-existing peacefully, because they’re going to be working on the paper together and have classes together.  Paris tells her the time of the first school newspaper meeting- which is after school, at 4 pm.

Here’s another random annoyance with Chilton.  It’s Chilton, this fancy, expensive private school that offers obscure Russian poetry and Shakespeare during summer school BUT DOESN’T HAVE A PERIOD SET FOR THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER?  You’d think Chilton would be able to fit in the school paper as a class.

We take a quick break to see the arrival of Jess, who looks like your typical bad boy.  Before we know it, we’re back at Chilton, where Rory is waiting for the newspaper meeting to start, only to hear talking in the room where they’re meeting.  She goes in to find that the meeting started at 3:15, and Paris had given her the wrong time- on purpose, naturally, because we’re talking about Paris.

Rory gets assigned to cover the re-paving of the faculty parking lot.  After it’s over, Rory runs into Max before they head in different directions.  Paris sees this, of course, and is probably figuring out how to use it against Rory.

At the diner, Lorelei asks Luke about Jess, because she wants to meet him.  Luke says he’s out, but minutes later, Jess arrives, only to go upstairs.  Lorelei suggests Luke and Jess come over for dinner the next night.  Rory arrives, complains about  Paris, and says she hasn’t run into Max, even though she’s in one of his classes, before telling Lorelei about running into him in the hall.

Rory gets to the next newspaper meeting early, and we learn how successful the past editors would be, all because Madeline asked if she could write a gossip column.  The teacher wants Paris to give Rory better articles…which, for this episode, is to interview the teacher voted most popular.  Naturally, it’s Max, and Paris gave it to Rory because she’ll be able to get something really special and in-depth.

At dinner, Sookie is convinced there isn’t enough food, when Jess and Luke arrive.  There’s not a lot to note here, but Jess seems intrigued by Rory’s books and says he doesn’t read much.  He ends up on the patio, with a beer, when Lorelei goes out to talk to him about how lucky he is to have Luke.  He doesn’t like her little speech, and thinks it’s because she’s really naive or sleeping with Luke.  Lorelei tells Luke, who is tired of Lorelei giving him condescending advice.  She thinks he’s in over his head, and since she’s had a kid, she knows more than Luke.  Before Luke leaves, he mentions that Lorelei got lucky with Rory, especially since Lorelei got pregnant at 16.

Lorelei was particularly irritating in this scene.  Her intentions may have been good, but they didn’t really come across that way.  Luke does have a point in that Lorelei got SUPER lucky with Rory.  The next morning, Lorelei refuses to into the diner, and wants Rory to get something for her.  Luke will only give her one coffee and one danish, and then gets a call from Taylor, because Jess did something.  Later on, we learn that Jess may have taken some money of the jar that’s related to saving the bridge in town.  Jess isn’t happy about being there, and I don’t blame him.  They walk by the lake on their way home, and Luke ends up pushing him in.

Rory interviews Max, and it’s really awkward at first but have a nice moment.  Later, Rory is working on the article when Luke comes over, regretting taking Jess in but Lorelei reassures him, and they make up.  Luke goes home, to tell Jess that he will not fall off the face of the earth, only for Jess to go out, run into Rory and give her a book back.  He seems to take to Rory, more so than anyone else in town.  The episode ends with both of them going their own way.

Favorite Line:

Lorelei: Jackson grows fruit and then scares people with it.

Pop Culture:

The Breakfast Club, Oliver Twist, Dr. Laura

Final Thoughts:

I’ve wavering between not liking this one and thinking it’s just okay.  Lorelei was irritating, even though she had really good intentions. Paris…she’s just Paris, but her pettiness is also annoying.  She grows on you though.  As for Jess…let’s just say it’ll be an interesting season with Jess around.  Stuff gets set in motion, but it’s also an episode I sort of don’t really think about.  It gets 1.5 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: And All The Stars

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And All The Stars CoverBook: And All The Stars by Andrea K Höst

Published October 2012|Self-Published by Andrea Höst

E-book|From NetGalley|296 pages

Series: None

Genre: YA: Science Fiction

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Andrea Höst’s Website

Summary: Come for the apocalypse.
Stay for cupcakes.
Die for love.

Madeleine Cost is working to become the youngest person ever to win the Archibald Prize for portraiture. Her elusive cousin Tyler is the perfect subject: androgynous, beautiful, and famous. All she needs to do is pin him down for the sittings.

None of her plans factored in the Spires: featureless, impossible, spearing into the hearts of cities across the world – and spraying clouds of sparkling dust into the wind.

Is it an alien invasion? Germ warfare? They are questions everyone on Earth would like answered, but Madeleine has a more immediate problem. At Ground Zero of the Sydney Spire, beneath the collapsed ruin of St James Station, she must make it to the surface before she can hope to find out if the world is ending.

I loved And All The Stars!  I was intrigued by the summary, and it’s so much more than what I was expecting.  I am so glad I got a copy through NetGalley!

I thought the idea of aliens coming down, building the spires and people who are dyed blue and dyed green and the people who are left alone or are too scared to leave their homes to be really interesting.  You’re immediately thrown into this world where the En-Mott have a master plan, and you’re literally watching everything unfold, but not completely understanding why they’re here and what they’re really up to.

And All The Stars was so hard to put down, and I loved how I wanted to keep reading so I could know what happened!  It really is an interesting take on alien invasions, and I was taken by surprise so many times!  And All The Stars was not predictable AT ALL, which was another great thing about reading it.

There’s just something about reading the apocalypse AS it happens, instead of after it happens.  It really is refreshing to see what’s going on in real time, and there’s also something about a group of people banding together, establishing new relationships and having to trust strangers while trying to survive something completely unknown and catastrophic.

I LOVED a lot of the details.  You have some people who are dyed blue and are always really hungry, and they don’t get along with the people who are dyed green.  I loved the idea of the Spires that appeared at several places all over the world and the different cycles.  Sometimes we don’t get all of the details, and while that would normally bother me, it DIDN’T in And All The Stars.  It just worked really well, and I liked how I didn’t completely know what was going on.

The characters were great, and I loved Maddie.  All of the characters were great, and one thing I really loved was that they were all drawn together because of what was going on and remained optimistic.  At a time when a lot of people would have remained divided, they banded together to figure out their abilities and save the world before it’s too late.  I like that there’s optimism and hope in a world where people were slowly becoming divided.  I loved that they all had something to contribute and that they worked well together.  You really did get a sense that they were in it together, and everyone was equally important.  It’s a nice change from a lot of other books where everything falls to one or two people.  Maddie was a great narrator, and I’m so glad we got to see things through her eyes.  She’s such a creative person, and I loved how artistic she was, always drawing and sketching.

So, a couple more things!  We have an epilogue, which I liked.  You see how things are changing and getting better.  I still have a lot of unanswered questions, and it’s kind of fun to think about what will happen next.  But there’s a part of me that wants a sequel so I can revisit Australia and spend more time with these characters and see the aftermath of what’s happened.

And Australia as the setting was also cool and unexpected.  I would never think of setting an alien invasion/apocalypse in Australia but it was another thing that worked well.  I can’t really explain why I liked it being set in Australia, I just know I liked it!

Final Thoughts:

And All The Stars is a breath of fresh air!  I haven’t come across anything like it, and it was such a fun book to read.  It’s an interesting mix of watching things unfold while not getting all of the details, but it works really well, because Maddie doesn’t know all of the details, and her perspective is pretty limited.  And All The Stars gets 5 stars!