Enchanted

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Enchanted CoverBook: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Published May 2012|Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|320 Pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part of a series?  No

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Alethea Kontis

Goodreads.com Summary: It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

I’m not sure what to think about Enchanted.  I love that it’s based on that poem about the days of the week.  But it’s also a very strange re-telling of that poem, and it’s all over the place.  There were elements of Cinderella, The Frog Prince and Jack And The Beanstalk thrown in too.  It just felt all over the place, and I’m not quite sure if the story was supposed to be happy, dark and twisted or something else?  There were so many different things going on, and none of them really worked well together.

There were a few things introduced that could have been interesting, if they were explored more.  Like Sunday’s brother Jack, or the relationship between the King and Sorrow, or even the relationship between the King and his first two wives, and why he killed to remain immortal.  I wanted to know more about Sunday and the frog/prince…when he was a frog, of course.

I’m not sure about the whole family being magical- it just felt too random, and was just another thing that didn’t quite fit.  Plus…all the fairy tales were pretty inconsistent.  Sometimes, Kontis went with the fairy tales (as she did with the frog prince) but other times, she went against it (like the princess and the pea).

I did like the descriptions, and it was a pretty easy read, even if it was a little confusing and convoluted at times.

Final thoughts: There was too much going on in Enchanted.  I liked that you saw a lot of fairy tales, but overall, that just took away from the novel because you were never really sure where it was going.  It was just okay, so it gets a 2 out of 5.

Shattered Souls

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Shattered Souls CoverBook: Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Published December 2011|Published by Philomel Books|336 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Part Of A Series? Yes

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Mary Lindsey’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger

Lenzi hears voices and has visions – gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can’t help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she’s a reincarnated Speaker – someone who can talk to and help lost souls – and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn’t make a decision soon.

Shattered Souls was really interesting.  And I really liked it!

I’m still not sure about this reincarnating souls trend, especially if the person doesn’t remember their past lives, but I thought it was really well-done in Shattered Souls.  Especially when you learn why she can’t remember anything!

I thought Lenzi was an interesting character, but I’m still not sure if I like her or not.  Interesting as she was, I just couldn’t completely connect with her.  Alden and Smith were also interesting, as were Maddi and Race, and I liked seeing the relationships between all the characters.

I think seeing more of Lenzi’s previous life as Rose would have been helpful, because it came up a lot, especially in reference to how different she was.  I know that her starting over and seeing Alden through fresh eyes was kind of the point, I wish her past was explored a little more.

I thought the whole Speaker/Protector/Hindered aspect of the book was super-interesting.  A girl who can speak to the dead, who need to move on?  Definitely an interesting take on ghosts, and I really enjoyed it how she can speak to the dead and help them move on and that she has someone to make sure everything goes okay when she does resolutions.  I love what she did with ghosts- she did something interesting but they were still what we know and love about ghosts.

Final thoughts: Shattered Souls was really interesting, and I can’t wait to learn more about this world.  I thought the idea of speakers and protectors was different and reincarnation to keep things running smoothly was also interesting.  Shattered Souls gets a 4 out of 5.

Top 10 Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the lovely 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 Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me

When I was working on this list, I decided to go with books that are in TBR pile.  It might be wishful thinking but maybe having some of those books in my TBR pile would actually get me to read some of them.  It is a most random list, but there are a lot of books I really, really want!  I really am amazed I managed to narrow down to the following 10 books…

  1. Life And Death Of Anne Boleyn: The Most Happy by Eric Ives.  This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and I’m just too lazy to actually get my hands on a copy.
  2. Brian Froud’s World Of Faerie.  Actually, I’d be happy with anything by Brian Froud.  I love fairies and I’m impressed with his illustrations.
  3. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson.  I keep hearing good things about Tiger Lily, so maybe I’d actually read it if I had my own copy.
  4. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.  Because I’ve never read it and I really need to.
  5. The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days by Tarek Malouf.  Because I love to bake and I don’t make enough cake.
  6. The Time Traveller’s Guide To Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer.  This could be helpful if I ever write that book set in Tudor England…plus, it seems like a cool book.
  7. Lola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins.  Because I loved Anna And The French Kiss, and so now I need to read Lola And The Boy Next Door.
  8. Vicksburg, 1863 by Winston Groom.  Because I have a few books about the Civil War in my TBR pile, and I really want one of them.  I just randomly picked this one.
  9. In The American West by Richard Avedon.  Because I’ve really liked his photography ever since I saw an exhibit of his at the San Diego Museum Of Art.  It would be nice to look at his photographs all the time!
  10. Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild by David Stenn.  I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while, and after hearing The History Chicks talk about her in one of their episodes, I’ve really wanted to read this one.

GG 1 x 16: Star-Crossed Lovers And Other Strangers

Posted in Season One, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Star-Crossed Lovers And Other Strangers originally aired March 8, 2001.  The teleplay was by John Stephens and Linda Loiselle Guzik while the story was by Joan Binder Weiss.  This episode was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

Brief Overview: We see the preparations for the upcoming Founder’s Firelight Festival, and almost everyone in town is in love.  Lorelei deals with her mother’s matchmaking while Dean and Rory call it quits.

We start with the prep for the festival, and Miss Patty is telling some kids the story of how the Firelight Festival came to be.

From there, we see Dean waiting at the bus stop for Rory.  He asks Rory if she can get out of Friday night dinner, because he wants to celebrate their 3-month anniversary.  Later on, Lorelei talks to Emily about letting Rory get out of dinner for one night, which Emily agrees to.  She doesn’t let Lorelei out of dinner.

Then we’re at Chilton. where Paris and Rory can’t get to their lockers because Tristan is making out with someone in front of their lockers.  I’m wondering, is this a movie and t.v. thing?  Because this never happened to me, and I honestly don’t remember ever seeing this happening.

Meanwhile, Lorelei is annoyed with everyone being in love and acting all couple-y at the inn.  She ends up going to Luke’s for some coffee, and almost gets taken out by a huge star.

Patty and Taylor argue about the Firelight Festival, and Lorelei loudly wonders if people can talk about something other than the festival.  So, Lorelei is definitely not happy that love is in the air.  She suggests that to Luke that the next day, they should hate people who say, “hey, how’s it going?”  Naturally, Luke’s ex-girlfriend Rachel walks in and says “hey, how’s it going?”

We go on to Lorelei helping Rory get ready for her date, and is all worked up because she made an idiot out of herself in front of Rachel.

Lorelei goes to Friday night dinner, sits awkwardly on the couch while Richard read the newspaper.  The doorbell rings, and we learn it’s the son of a friend of Emily’s.  Conveniently, he just happened to be in the area.  But it’s really Emily trying to set Lorelei up with someone suitable, because Emily doesn’t think Lorelei can get a guy on her own.

We see a little bit of Dean and Rory’s date and the beginning of the Firelight festival.  What I find interesting is that we only see the mayor a handful of times, and I believe all of those times are in the first season.  I don’t know if showing the mayor got to be too much, because the cast of Gilmore Girls is pretty big.  And Taylor goes on to fill that role pretty well, so it’s not like we need to see the mayor anyway.  The matches to light the bonfire can’t be found, which happens every year I think the Firelight Festival is the only town event- other than town meetings- that we see more than once.

Lorelei ends up leaving Friday night dinner through the balcony, because Chase is really boring, and Richard finds her trying to leave.  He covers for her, and tells Emily that he couldn’t find her.

Rory and Dean leave the festival (because it’ll take a while for the bonfire to be lit) and they go to this junkyard.  Dean is building Rory a car, and tells her he loves her.  Rory doesn’t say anything for a minute, and then says she loves the car.  She needs to process it, and Dean, naturally, is not happy that he said it, and she’s not saying it back.  She keeps repeating that she needs to think about it, but Dean tells her that it’s not something you think about or make a pro-con list about.

Here’s the thing.  I get why Dean is upset- you tell someone that you love them and they don’t say it back, and then you’re feeling all stupid for putting it out there.  But saying it can be hard…and is it really a surprise that Rory needs some time?  I mean, saying it isn’t easy, so you’d think he’d be more understanding of that.  She’s confused, and it’s a big deal for her, and she wants him to understand where she’s coming from.  He breaks up with her and takes her home.  This just really makes me not like Dean.  I get it’s hard, but to break up with someone because they don’t say I love you right away…Rory’s better off without a guy who will dump her just because she doesn’t say it right back.

Lorelei goes to the festival and runs into Luke.  She goes home and learns that Rory and Dean broke up.

Pop culture: Tolstoy

Favorite line/scene: The story of the firelight festival

Miss Patty, to kids: “Who wants to about the time I danced in a cage for Tito Puente?”

Kids: “Me!”

Final thoughts: This was an interesting episode.  I did not like Dean in this episode, which should be obvious by now.  It sets up a few things that will carry us to the season finale.  It was a really good episode, and it gets 4 mugs of coffee.

Catch My Breath

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Catch My Breath by Kelly Clarkson is one of my favorite songs right now, and I’ve been listening to it a lot lately.  Especially on repeat.  I just love Kelly Clarkson and this song always puts me in a good mood!

And We Have A (Rebellious) Winner!

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Guess who “won” NaNo with 50,099 words?

Me!

I actually won!

I actually won!

So…I feel the need to explain the rebellious part.  I started out with the one about the two kids who were going to save their parents jobs.  But I started to not feel that one, so I started to write a different novel, that started off with a girl at a party…and wrote a lot more for that one, until I started to get bored with that one.

Then I decided I was going to use the time to get ahead with blogging.  Top 10 Tuesdays?  December and most of January is done…as are the next few weeks of Gilmore Girls episodes.

And then I decided that I need to do some free writing so that I could get back to noveling.  But then…I realized…free-writing worked out much better than that noveling thing.  Considering the blog posts and the free-writing was a good chunk of my word count, I have decided that makes me a rebel!  I am happy that I just wrote, because really, that’s the spirit of NaNo.  Even when I didn’t want to write anything…I came through in the end, even if it was unconventional.

In some ways, it wasn’t a good month in terms of noveling.  But in terms of just writing, I am glad I did write.  The 50,000 words is nice, but…sometimes, it’s just about letting go and writing about what I need and want to write, instead of writing what I think I should be writing.  I definitely need to be better prepared next year…with an idea that I’ve actually worked on for more than a week!

And congrats to everyone who did NaNo, whether you won or not!

Princess In Waiting

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Book: Princess In Waiting by Meg Cabot

Published September 2002|Published by HarperCollins Publishers|256 pages

Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Meg Cabot

Goodreads.com Summary: Never before has the world seen such a Princess.

Nor have her own subjects, for that matter. But Genovian politics are nothing next to Mia’s real troubles. Between canceled dates with her long-sought-after royal consort, a second semester of the dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmere, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn’t there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title?

The tales of Princess Mia continue with Princess In Waiting.  I really love Mia and how she deals with being a princess.

We see her in Genovia, worrying about the infrastructure of Genovia.  We also see her attend a lot of different functions and count down the days until she can see Michael.  I loved seeing her worry about whether Michael was going to break up with her because she needed to cancel their first date.  Michael, of course, is completely amazing, and doesn’t break up with her.

I love the references throughout the book.  The references do date the series a little, but at the same time, it’s totally cool, because it’s like a trip down memory lane!  So…there’s a point where Lilly calls Mia in Genovia and tells her that there was a movie about her life and how it makes Lilly look like an unsupportive, raving lunatic.  I wonder if it’s a reference to the movie adaptation, which I couldn’t get out of my head every single time Lilly brought up the movie.

I love that Mia’s insecure.  It makes her really easy to relate to, and I love that she’s not perfect.  I love that she spends part of the book thinking she isn’t good at anything, and is then surprised when Michael points out that he thinks she’s a good writer.  Mia really is a great character, and she always makes me laugh.

I didn’t love Princess In Waiting, but it is such a fun series to read.  I don’t know much more I can gush about Mia and how much I love her, but I’m sure I can manage to gush about her for the remainder of the series.

Final thoughts: Princess In Waiting is another fun addition to the Princess Diaries, and I like that it’s happening in a short amount of time- Meg Cabot really zeroes in on a specific time frame for each novel, and I like that, because it doesn’t feel drawn out.  It gets a 4 out of 5.

The Summer I Turned Pretty

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Book: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Published December 2012|Published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers|292 pages

Purchased for my Nook

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Jenny Han’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Some summers are just destined to be pretty.

When each summer begins, Belly leaves her school life behind and escapes to Cousins Beach, the place she has spent every summer of her life. Not only does the beach house mean home away from home, but her favorite people are there: Susannah, her mother’s best friend, and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has been chasing Conrad for as long as she can remember, and more than anything, she hopes this summer will be different. Despite distractions from a new guy named Cam and lingering looks from Conrad’s brother, Jeremiah, Belly’s heart belongs to Conrad. Will he offer his to her? Will this be the summer that changes everything?

I loved The Summer I Turned Pretty!  It’s such a fun, cute read, and I even get a little teary-eyed at one point!

I just…I really loved The Summer I Turned Pretty…I love that it takes place during the summer.  I love that we only see the characters during the summer.  I loved the characters most of all- Belly was fun, I totally get why she likes Conrad, and Jeremiah is such a great guy.  Susannah is such a cool mom, and while Belly’s mom is my least favorite character, she was still an interesting character.

It is the perfect summer read, although I would read it anytime I needed a dose of summer.  I loved seeing what Belly was up to, her relationships with Conrad, Jeremiah and her brother Steve, and all of the flashbacks throughout the book.  The flashbacks really added to the relationships.

I so wanted Belly and Jeremiah to end up together, but I also get why she has this huge crush on Conrad.  I liked seeing snippets of her relationship with both boys, and how her relationships with them changed throughout the years.

There is a certain simplicity to The Summer I Turned Pretty.  You get taken back to a time when your biggest worry was what you were going to do that day and hanging out with friends for one last summer.  You feel happy and sad and you can’t help but smile and laugh too.

Final thoughts: I loved The Summer I Turned Pretty so much that all I can do is gush about how much I love it.  It’s cute, it’s fun, and great if you’re looking for something summer-y, no matter what time of year it is!  It gets a 5 out of 5.

Crank

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Book: Crank by Ellen Hopkins|Narrated by Laura Flanagan

Published August 2008|Published by Highbridge Audio|Run time: 4 hours, 31 minutes

Audiobook, via the public library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Ellen Hopkins’ Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, she meets a boy who introduces her to crank. At first she finds it freeing, but soon Kristina’s personality disappears inside the drug. What began as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul, and her life.

I really liked Crank.  After listening to Identical, and having seen this one in the digital library, I decided to give it a listen.

There’s something very poetic about Crank, and it was a very interesting listen.  You really see what it does to Kristina, and how much she needs it by the end of the book.  Even her child can’t completely save her from it.  I liked seeing her life during this time, but unfortunately, you don’t see really see anything of her life before becoming addicted.  And you only see a little bit of her life after learning she’s pregnant.  I would have liked more of her life before, to see how much it really changed her.

I thought Kristina was interesting, but she wasn’t as interesting as I expected.  I think having a little bit more of her life before crank would have helped with that.  I mean, you get a really good look how someone gets addicted, but with Kristina, you don’t really get the why, which is something that’s sort of intriguing.  You see how ugly addiction is, and how hard it is to overcome.  Even at the end, with a newborn, Kristina still struggles with her meth addiction.  I like that she doesn’t sugarcoat it.  I like that you see it in all it’s ugliness.  I like that even at the end of the book, things aren’t completely wrapped up or resolved.  You really get a sense that addiction is something you always struggle with, no matter what else is going on.

It was a little hard to connect with Kristina, because I felt like I only knew the Kristina who was addicted to crank.

I thought Kristina calling crank “the monster” as interesting at first, but it got tiresome by the end.  I get why she calls it the monster, but it was still got old pretty fast.

It’s a pretty gritty, dark book, and Flanagan did a great job at showing Kristina’s downward spiral.  This is the second book I’ve listened to that’s been narrated by Flanagan, and she’s a great narrator who really brought Kristina to life.

Final thoughts: I’m slowly becoming a fan of Ellen Hopkins and I like how dark, gritty and real Crank is.  A little more of her life in Reno before becoming addicted to crank would have been nice, but overall, it is a really good read.  It gets a 4 out of 5.

10 Most Anticipated Books For 2013

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the lovely 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 Most Anticipated Books For 2013

This is the perfect list for me right now, because there are a ton of books I’m looking forward to right now!  There are quite a few new releases I’m looking forward to right now, and I can’t wait to read them.  This was a fun list to work on, but I didn’t realize how many series I was reading until I worked on this list…because they’re all series!  So, here are 10 books I’m looking forward to reading next year!

  1. Boundless by Cynthia Hand.  I’m really looking forward to the conclusion of the Unearthly series.  I have to know if Tucker and Clara end up together!
  2. Mind Games by Kiersten White.  I loved Paranormalcy, which I really need to finish.  So I’m looking forward to Mind Games, which is her next series.
  3. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.  I loved Cinder, and I can’t wait to read Scarlet!
  4. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.  I loved Shatter Me, and I’m really looking forward to Unravel Me.
  5. Requiem by Lauren Oliver.  I can’t wait to read Requiem, because I really like the Delirium series.  I’m so fascinated by the idea that love is a disease, and I can’t wait to see what happens in Requiem.
  6. Dark Triumph by R.L. LaFevers.  Loved Grave Mercy, so I can’t wait to read the sequel!
  7. The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson.  The Name Of The Star was really spooky and mysterious, and it’s an interesting take on Jack The Ripper.  I’m definitely looking forward to The Madness Underneath.
  8. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake.  This one sounds really intriguing- it seems like an interesting take on the Greek Goddesses, so I’m looking forward to it.
  9. Dead Silence by Kimberly Derting.  I really liked The Body Finder, and while I really need to read the next two books in the series, I’m still looking forward to Dead Silence.
  10. Fall Of Night and Daylighters by Rachel Caine.  I’m putting these two together because they’re the last two books in the Morganville Vampire series, which is completely amazing so far.  Hopefully I’ll be all caught up by the time these two books come out!