Perfect

Posted in Books by

Book: Perfect by Sara Shepard

Pages: 298 (Hardcover)

My Thoughts: In Volume 3, A tells Aria’s mom, Ella, that Aria’s dad (Byron) had an affair with a student.  This is after Aria ignored A’s threats.  Ella kicks Aria out of the house, so she goes to live with her boyfriend Sean and his family.  Aria still continues her affair with her English teacher.  Emily starts up a relationship with Maya, but is outed at a swim meet.  Her parents send her to Tree Tops, a program that will help Emily get over the “illness” of being gay.  Emily ignores them because she doesn’t want to change who she is.  Hanna is no longer friends with Mona, and is humiliated at Mona’s birthday party.  At the party, she gets a text from A, and recognizes the number, finally figuring out who A is.  Spencer’s family finds out that she used her sister’s economics essay in class, which may ruin her chances at getting the Golden Orchid award that she was nominated for.  They all meet at Rosewood Day School so Hanna can tell them about A, but before Hanna can do that, she is run over by a car.  The book ends with a text from A, saying that Hanna knew too much.

It’ definitely intriguing, and the mystery continues.  I really want to know who A is, and why A is putting the girls through all of this.  A definitely has some issues, since A ran someone over because they knew too much.  I get why the girls don’t want to go to the police, since they’d have to tell all of their secrets, but at the same time, they’re clearly in over their heads with all of this.  Not wanting to spill their secrets might have cost Hanna her life…but I have the distinct feeling Hanna isn’t going to die.  But people are getting hurt because of this!

There’s also a stalker in Rosewood, and this mysterious stalker is looking in people’s houses.  Emily, Hanna, Aria, and Spencer know it’s A, but don’t tell anyone.  And A sends a picture of Aria and her English teacher to Sean, who calls the police, and then dumps Aria, leaving her with nowhere to go.  Aria and her English teacher…that whole thing is such a mess.  I don’t even know where to start with that, so I’m not even going to try.

I’m getting more intrigued as I continue to read the series.  I feel like A is someone we’ve met, but overall, I really have no clue.  A is very sneaky, but since they accidentally revealed themselves, how good could they really be?  A will clearly stop at nothing to get what they want.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  It’s pretty good, and it’s consistently good.

Flawless

Posted in Books by

Book: Flawless by Sara Shepard

Pages: 330 (Hardcover)

What Did I Think? The Pretty Little Liars series continues with the 2nd book, Flawless.  The 4 girls continue to get texts from the mysterious A, who threatens to expose the secrets they had told Ali.  They believe A is Toby Cavanaugh, who is the only other person who knew about “The Jenna Thing.”  We learned what the Jenna thing is: they were having a sleepover, and they caught Toby watching them change clothes.  To get back at him, they went over to his treehouse, and Ali lit a firework.  Instead of scaring Toby, they accidentally blind his step-sister Jenna.  Emily is taunted about her feelings for Maya, while Hanna is pressured to tell a couple people about her bulimia and shoplifting.  Aria is told to get rid of Meredith or A will tell her mom, and A tells Melissa that Spencer has been dating Wren, who is Melissa’s ex-fiancee.  Emily accuses Toby of murdering Alison; he later kills himself, and Spencer reveals that he had molested Jenna.  Emily realizes Toby thought she was talking about that, and was worried she would tell the entire town about what he did to Jenna.

It was really intriguing, and just when you think that everything is revealed…you realize that it’s not.  Emily gets a text from the mysterious A, which means it’s not Toby.  Of course it’s not Toby, because there are a total of 9 books in the series, with one to be released in December.  So it would be way too easy for it to be Toby.  But since it’s not Toby, who is A?  How does A know all their secrets?  Did Alison tell A?  Why is A taunting them now?  How does A know what they’re doing at all times?  Did they do something to A?  I know these questions will be answered at some point in the series…or at least I hope they’re answered.

I really like the series, at least based on the first couple books.  I love how mysterious everything is, and we only get bits and pieces of everything.  A mysterious stalker, threatening to reveal their secrets?  4 girls who used to be best friends, but drifted apart after their ringleader mysteriously vanished, only to be brought together again?  What’s not to like?

Rating: 4 out of 5.  I was worried that I wouldn’t like it, but I do.  I’m hoping the series doesn’t get all weird or anything.  Well, weirder than it already is.

The Great Power Outage Of 2011

Posted in General by

Yesterday, was, well, interesting.  There was this massive power outage that affected southern California, Arizona, parts of New Mexico, and parts of Mexico.  This is the 2nd power outage we’ve had in the last month, but this one was, very clearly, massive.  The power’s slowly coming on, and everyone should have power by the end of the day, but there might be some people who won’t get their power back until tomorrow.  It sounded like there was gridlock all over the county, school’s cancelled, flights are grounded, and people ran out of gas!  It was a mess on the streets, and this will be one of the very few times when I’m glad I was at home. 

At first, I was like, the power will come back on a few hours, everything will be cool.  It went out around 3:45-ish in the afternoon, and came back around 12:30 or so, so it wasn’t too long.  It could have been a lot worse. 

I managed to keep myself pretty entertained: I read a lot, and while I didn’t work on my plot bunnies, I thought about it.  I think I might work on them today, because I think I want to conserve energy while power is being restored to the rest of the county. 

I think that’s it for now, I’m tired, and I definitely want to get some sleep.

Fruits Basket, Volume 10

Posted in Books by

Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 10 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 182 (Paperback)

My Thoughts: In Volume 10, there’s a lot going on!  Tohru and all the Sohma’s go to a beach house, and are surprised with a visit from Akito.  I never liked Akito, and my dislike of Akito keeps getting stronger.  Before they go to the beach house, Shigure visits the bookshop run by his ex-girlfriend, who remembers when Hatori was engaged to her best friend.  Shigure manipulates Hatori into visiting her, because…she has a secret crush on him!  Yuki admits to himself that he is in love with her. 

It doesn’t seem like a lot happened, but we learn a lot more about Hatori, and that he wasn’t always so aloof.  Seeing Shigure with a girlfriend is weird, and something that I don’t think of.  It was interesting seeing Akito again, since he so rarely makes an actual appearance.  And we have the typical fan art, which is always pretty impressive, and we learn about the year of the tiger.  And we have all the side notes and the character list at the beginning. 

So it has all your standard stuff in it.  I still love the series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Rating: 5 out of 5.  This volume has filler, but it also moves the story along.  Plus, the artwork is good.

I Think I Have Decided Something…

Posted in Other Projects by

I’ve kind of narrowed things down a little.  I’m thinking of giving her the ability to heal, read minding, being empathetic, or manipulating time.

With the ability to heal, I’m thinking that in order to heal someone, she somehow absorbs the illness or injury from the person she’s healing.  I’m not sure how, maybe she ends up with illness/injury herself, or maybe it presents a lot of colds or something.  With the empathetic thing, that could go hand-in-hand with her ability to heal others, in that people could always be coming up to her and telling her their problems, and she just keeps absorbing it until she feels sick enough to die. 

I’m not really sure how I could work in mind-reading or manipulating time in, but manipulating time (or even time travel) could be really interesting.  I mean, it could age her really fast or something.  Mind-reading, on the other hand, I have no idea. 

I also like the idea of her having faerie blood, or at least the blood of some similar creature.  I like the idea of her slowly being killed by eating processed food, and breathing in polluted air.  Stuff that isn’t good for the average person, but takes years to have an effect is super toxic to her.

I think those 2 groups are the most interesting to me, but that’s the most thinking I did yesterday.  While it’s not a lot, it is something, and more than I’d normally do.  I definitely need to take a closer look at faerie’s and stuff.  I didn’t really do anything else, but small steps seem to work really well for me.  I don’t know what my next step is…or maybe I do and just don’t want to think about it.

The Dreaming, Volume 3

Posted in Books by

Book: The Dreaming, Volume 3 by Queenie Chan

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? This is my favorite volume in the trilogy.  I was thoroughly creeped out by the end of the book!

We learn about the fairy king, which is told to Amber by Millie, the girl who died in the first book.  There was an orphan girl, who lived in a house with her stepmother and stepsister, and they’d look her into a small cupboard whenever she did something wrong.  To escape from them, she would take long walks into the woods, but her stepmother and stepsisters didn’t like the forest, so they never followed her.  One time, she came across the fairy king, who made her his queen, gave her the same powers he did, and she got her wish of revenge.  She went back home, and transformed them into creatures like herself.  It’s a warning that Amber’s possessed, just like Millie was.  We also learn about the Quinkan, who are shape-shifters who can walk through walls and take on the form of people that they have possessed before.  This is how all of the girls have gone missing, and smoke drives the Quinkan away.  We finally see Mrs. Skeener, who tells Jeanie that the school board decided to close down the school.  Mrs. Skeener gets sent to her aunt’s school, and Mary travels to Australia with her.  However, when they get there, they find that their aunt has disappeared.  The students at the school think Mrs. Skeener and her sister should suffer because their aunt got what she deserved.  Mrs. Skeener attacked the other girls after a trip into the bushlands, but her sister disappears days later.  Mrs. Skeener is eventually rescued, and spends years in a sanatorium, until she learns that her father has died, and the school has been left to her.  The school catches on fire, the students and Mrs. Anu escape, but Mrs. Skeener dies in the school that was her home.  Amber suffers from some permanent memory loss, took up painting, and moved to England, while Jeanie went to college and became a paralegal secretary.

The only thing I didn’t like was the epilogue at the end.  I would have been fine with it out, and it certainly wasn’t the ending I expected.  I expected something more creepy and dramatic than what the epilogue gave.  As much as I love horror (and I really need to start reading it again), I don’t feel creeped out very often.  And this book was definitely creepy.  I liked the artwork, and you could feel that there was something hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  Really creepy, and I felt like it finally lived up to the horror genre.

Decisions, Decisions

Posted in Other Projects by

I have a really cool idea for one of my plot bunnies, the one where the two best friends make a pact.  I haven’t looked over my notes or anything, and it’s been a good 2 months or so since I’ve worked on it.  But I still want to go with the idea that she has some supernatural power or something and it ends up killing her.  The only problem is deciding which thing I want to go with.

I have 3 categories- magical beasts and creatures, superpowers, and other.  I want it to be somwhat realistic…or at the very least, the teensiest bit plausible.  Like fairie blood is toxic when mixed with human blood.  Or she can heal people but it shortens her life a little each time she does it.  I definitely want to go with something like that…something that’s she’s done her whole life, something she does not knowing it’s killing her each time she does it, or some kind of magical blood that is deadly when combined with another type of blood.  It’s definitely intriguing, and I’m not sure which one I like more.  Maybe I can find some way to combine both, because depending on whatever creature I go with, there are probably special abilities that go along with it.  I have lists, I just need to do a little more research on some of the creatures to see if anything seems super-interesting.

This is why I like to wing it, as much as possible, because I hate deciding on things!  I know I could change it later, but my stupid inner editor starts harping on me about making sure it’s the right decision, because you don’t want to make the wrong one.  And just when I think she’s gone…she randomly appears!

I think today, I’m going to try working on this plot bunny, and see if I can actually decide on something!

The Sweet Life In Paris

Posted in Books by

Book: The Sweet Life In Paris by David Lebovitz

Pages: 304 (Hardcover)

What Did I Think? The Sweet Life In Paris is a mix of recipes and stories of his life in Paris.  I really liked how he told his stories- they were really conversational, and were not only funny, but pretty honest too.  There are all kinds of helpful hints, about how to act, and about the different ways to order coffee.  That was one of the more memorable chapters, the one where he talks about trying to find a good cup of coffee. 

He does seem to spend more time complaining about the French then complimenting them, and it makes you wonder why he still lives there.  Still, it seems like he’s (kind of) adjusting, and at least somewhat enjoys living there.  But maybe I want to believe he likes living there.  

It was a pretty fast read, especially if you ignore all the recipes in the book.  There’s at least 2 or 3 recipes at the end of each chapter, some of which looked pretty good.  It really reads like a blog, but in the form of a book. 

Also included is a list of places to buy French foodstuffs in the U.S., as well as a list of his favorite restaraunts.  Since this was written a couple years ago, I’m assuming that the info for the restaraunts is up-to-date, but since you can never be too sure, be sure to check online if you’re interested. 

Rating: 3 out of 5.  Interesting, entertaing, and amusing.  I’ve never been to Paris, but if I had, I’m assuming this would have been a lot funnier.

The Hunger Games

Posted in Books by

Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Pages: 374 (Paperback)

What Did I Think? I loved it!  I’ve heard of The Hunger Games, and a few weeks ago, request it from the library.

In The Hunger Games, the Capitol is very harsh to the country of Panem, which occupies the area that used to be North America.  The Capitol is surrounded by 12 districts, which are kept in line by forcing all 12 districts to send one boy and one girl to fight in the annual Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games takes a total of 24 tributes, all between the ages of 12 and 18, in a fight-to-the-death event televised on live T.V.

We follow Katniss, one of the tributes from District 12, which is the poorest district.  She volunteers to be her district’s female tribute when her 12 year-old sister is picked to be one of the tributes.  The book is divided into 3 sections- the first is about the tributes, the second is about the actual hunger games, and the third is a mix of the hunger games and the post-games stuff.  There is violence, since everyone’s fighting to the death, but I wasn’t bothered by it.  And I thought it was secondary to the rest of the story, which is more about the government keeping the districts in line and squashing any sort of rebellion.

I was utterly fascinated with the idea of The Hunger Games, and how bad things can get.  I especially loved the way it was written- I felt like I was experiencing what Katniss was experiencing, and how chaotic the Hunger Games really are.  I don’t know how to describe what I felt when I was reading the book.  I guess it’s a mix of horror, amazement, and a general feeling of wanting Katniss to make it through.  The idea of a bunch of kids fighting to the death on live tv is morbid…but it’s a fascinating morbid.  Or maybe I’m just really weird and disturbed.  Moving on…I can definitely see why it’s so popular!

You can see the difference between the districts: some are more wealthy than others, as evidenced by the fact the a few of the districts have people who train for the Hunger Games.  It’s those districts that tend to win the Hunger Games.  And even in District 12, we can see the socioeconomic differences between the Seam (the poor section of an already poorer district) and the other part of town.  There’s just so much going on that we don’t see, and I’d like to re-read through a sociological perspective.  Look at me trying to be all smart!  But really, my degree is in sociology, and so it was kinda hard for me to miss.  Actually, it’d be hard for a lot of people to miss, I think, but there was all kinds of issues and stuff in there that I’d like to take a look at.

I wanted to know more about the districts, since not much information was given about each district or about the rebellion.  I wanted to know how and why North America was destroyed and why the Treaty of Treason was necessary.  I’m not sure how this would work out in the book, and for all I know, it could be revealed in the other 2 books.  But then again, the book was more about survival and what’s it’s like to go through the Hunger Games than about the history and how they got there.  There weren’t really any reasons given for why things were the way they were, but I’m (oddly) okay with that.  It does make you wonder what happened in order for something like The Hunger Games to come about.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  I thought it was amazing, and I was only a few chapters in when I requested the 2nd book.  It’ll be a while before I get it- I’m currently at 165 out of 182…which is better than the wait list for Game Of Thrones, where I’m at 223 (out of 226 people).

Fruits Basket, Volume 9

Posted in Books by

Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 9 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 192 (Paperback)

Thoughts: In Volume 9, we meet a couple of the student council members, when Yuki finds the student council room trashed.  We also meet Kureno Sohma, who meets Arisa while she’s working at a convenience store.  They end up meeting again, and Arisa wonders if she’ll ever see him again.  We also have a flashback to Hanajima’s childhood, which was really difficult because of a psychic power that she can’t control.  She believes she used her power to almost kill a boy; she finally transfers to a new middle school, where she meets Arisa and Tohru.  She starts to learn how to control her abilities so she doesn’t hurt them.  We also meet Kyo’s father!  He insists that Kyo needs to be confined after he graduates, and turns to Kazuma (the man who “adopted” Kyo) for help, but Kazuma says he won’t help confine Kyo.  Rin, who’s out of the hospital, visits Shigure so she can ask him a question.

I wasn’t sympathetic to Kyo’s dad, and I found that I just couldn’t like him.  Honestly, the parents in this series are terrible!  Well, the little we see of them.  They’re either really protective of their kids, or they want nothing to do with their zodiac children.  The only exception would be Kazuma, but it’s partly because he feels bad about the way he treated his grandfather (who was the cat before Kyo).  Although he does care for Kyo, which you can definitely see in the series.

As usual, we have the character list at the beginning, which usually has a new character added to it with each passing volume.  We also have the fan art, the side notes about video games and we learn about the year of the snake.  All in all, this is a really good volume, and shows what could be Kyo’s future.

Rating: 5 out of 5.  We learn more about the characters, and it definitely adds to the story.