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Hallowed

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Book: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Book Info: Published by HarperTeen; 248 pages; read on my Nook

Goodreads Summary: For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn’t prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

In this compelling sequel to Unearthly, Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

Hallowed is the sequel to Unearthly, and I thought it was a really good sequel.  It’s so compelling, and it was hard to put down.  It broke my heart, and made me want to squee while jumping up and down.

The Tucker-Clara-Christian love triangle is certainly interesting, and it is surprisingly not boring.  I love Tucker and Clara, but Christian and Clara also make a lot of sense.  It didn’t annoy me, and it’s not perfect by any means.  But again, it didn’t annoy me, so I can’t really complain too much about it.

Clara’s mom was really irritating, with not wanting to tell Clara anything unless she had to.  Jeffrey was also irritating, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to.  It turns out he set one of the fires, because it was his purpose.  And in the end, he disappears without a trace.  While most of the plot points were resolved, there are a few things that are left untied.

As much as I loved the book (and series), I wonder what Clara’s purpose really is, and if it will ever be resolved.  I can see the series going on for a really long time if Clara keeps resisting her purpose, but hopefully the next book will have a lot more clues.

I give it a 5 out of 5.  Hand clearly put some thought into the series, and the imagery is beautiful.

Field Trip Pictures, Part 2

Posted in 2012 Theme: Self-Love, General, Photos by

Here are the rest of the pictures from my trip to the San Diego Mission!

Remember that ladder in the Casa De Los Padres?  It led to the upper level in the picture below.

In the same building, you have some Franciscan robes on display, because they were the ones who originally ran the mission.  Now, it’s run by the Diocese of San Diego.

Here’s another picture of the garden.

I thought the brick cross in the background was pretty cool.  In the garden, there are a couple of statues.  Here’s the one of St. Joseph.

I liked the statue of Father Serra, the guy who founded the mission.

I thought this was pretty cool.  You can see a little bit of the garden, but I didn’t want to walk through it just to get a closer picture of the statue.  I suppose that’s what the zoom buttons are for, but either way, I like the garden too.

Here’s the St. Didacus statue.  I liked the white statue with the blue tiled background.  Plus, another name for Didacus is Diego…he’s the saint San Diego is named after, in case anyone is wondering.

Here’s a little…thing that was next to the Kumeyaay hut.  I’m not sure what it is, but now that I think of it, there may have been a little sign explaining what it was.

I thought this fountain was really pretty.

This cross is dedicated to Father Luis Jayme, who is the 1st Christian matyr in California.  He died in an attack on the mission in 1775.  I think we’re on the 5th church.

And while I didn’t get a picture of the inside of the church, I did get a picture of the church bells.  They rang at noon, so at least I got to hear the church bells.  And here’s an interesting tidbit of information: the church (which is still an active church) was named a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1976.

Granted, you can’t see them too well, but I was trying to take the picture while the wedding in the church was going on.  I didn’t want to be that weird person with the camera standing in front of the open door to the church.  Hence, the weird angle.  Plus, it seemed like the best angle at the time.

I’ll leave you with one more picture, at least for now.  There are still a few more pictures, which may decide to post at some point.  I’m just not sure yet.  Anyway, the last picture for today is a picture of a sign.  I think the sign is pretty self-explanatory.

The Giver

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Book: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Book Info: Published by Laurel-Leaf Books; 179 pages; read on my Nook

Goodreads Summary: In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community’s Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price.

The Giver is set in a future society which is at first presented as a utopia and gradually appears more and more dystopic, so could therefore be considered anti-utopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life. Jonas’ society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to “Sameness”, a plan which has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of “Receiver of Memory,” the person who stores all the memories of the time before Sameness, in case they are ever needed to aid in decisions that others lack the experience to make. As Jonas receives the memories from his predecessor—the “Giver”—he discovers how shallow his community’s life has become.

I finally finished my re-read of The Giver.  It’s been a long time since I’ve read it, and I’m glad I decided to read it again.

The world Lowry created is an interesting one.  Everything is very precise and very controlled- to the point that there is no color, and there are no choices.  Everything seems perfect, and then you start to realize that things are not as perfect as they seem.  One person with the burden of all the memories, in the history of ever?  I certainly wouldn’t want that.

When the previous receiver fails, and everyone receives the memories she received, they are unable to handle it.  That is really interesting, because you realize they’ve done everything everything they can to get rid of emotional pain.  They’re just not able to handle it, which is really interesting.

We seriously need to talk about release for a minute.  It went over my head when I read it as a kid.  It wasn’t until sometime in the last couple years or so that I realized what release really was.  It was the hardest scene to read this time around, knowing that it was the society’s way of letting people go.  I think this time around, I had a much better understanding of release.  So reading it as an adult was really weird but also really cool.

It’s a pretty simple and straightfoward story, and yet there’s a lot there.  I really like that the ending was ambiguous, because you get to think about how things might have turned out for Jonas and Gabe.

I give it a 4 out of 5.  It held up pretty well, and it’s a pretty good story.

10 Books I’d Like To See Made Into A Movie

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So, I’ve decided to do Top 10 Tuesday, which is hosted by the Broke And The Bookish.  I’ve seen it on a few blogs, and it always seems like fun!  Every Tuesday, book bloggers from all over the place make their own lists based on whatever the topic of the week.

This was a hard list for me to do, because a lot of the books I would have picked have already been made into a movie.  But I somehow managed to come up with 10, so here they are!

10 Books I’d Like To See Made Into A Movie

1- Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I would love to see Divergent on-screen.  I think the aptitude test and the simulations would be freaking amazing to see.

2- The Iron King by Julie Kagawa.  I love the Iron Fey series, and the nevernever!  I’d love to see someone else’s vision of the nevernever.  And Ash and Meghan?  One of my favorite romances ever.

3- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  This was such a magical book, and I’d love to see how the magical, dreamlike feel of the book translates to the big screen.  This is one circus I would love to see!

4- Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier would make a great movie!  I’d love to see this book made into a movie just for the setting and costumes alone.  I loved how I could picture everything in my mind, and to see it on a movie screen would be breathtaking.

5- Avielle Of Rhia by Dia Calhoun.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of the book, but like Wildwood Dancing, the setting and costumes would make it worth it.  I think the movie adaptation would be really interesting, especially with the Bretheren Of The Black Cloaks hanging around.  Oh, and Avielle hiding after her home is attacked would make for an interesting movie.  Come to think of it, it does have the possibility to be a better movie.

6- Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.  After my re-read of it last year, I realized it would be far better as a movie.  It is a pretty eventful book, and there’s something in it that would appeal to a lot of people.  It would be particularly interesting to see how it’s edited down to a 2 hour movies, but for some reason, I can’t see the author handing over the rights to turn it into a movie.

7- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  This would make an amazing movie!  Westerfeld sure knows how to world-build, and the book had a lot of adventure that would keep me riveted.

8- Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.  It’s about the end of the world, what’s not to like?  Seeing the asteroid hit the moon, and the crazy chaos that ensues…it might not be summer blockbuster material, but it would still be a cool movie.

9- Paranormalcy by Kiersten White.  This would make an awesome movie!  Hello, pink taser!  The IPCA, hunting down paranormal creatures, a shapeshifter- I could go on about the things I liked and how cool it would be to see what the IPCA building looks like.

10- The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine.  So what if I’ve read the 1st book in the series?  Just based off of the 1st book, and the summaries I’ve read of the other books, I think this would make a cool t.v. show.

Glass Houses

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Book: Glass House by Rachel Caine

Book Info: Published by NAL Jam; 239 pages; read on my Nook

Goodreads Summary: Welcome to Morganville, Texas. Just don’t stay out after dark.

College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school’s social scene: somewhere less than zero.

When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don’t show many signs of life. But they’ll have Claire’s back when the town’s deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.

I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages, and finally got around to reading it!  I’m glad I did, because I really liked it.

I really liked the plot.  Vampires running the town, and needing their protection in order to do anything worthwhile in town?  Definitely interesting.  The plot moved along really well, and just when you think you have things figured out, something would come up that would make you wonder why you thought you had things figured out.

Ass for the characters, I really liked Claire.  She did feel a little young, but she was a freshman in college at 16, so that might be why she seemed so young.  But I wanted her to be okay, and protect her.  Plus, I could definitely relate to Claire in a lot of ways.  Eve was cool, Shane is interesting and I’m ambivalent towards Michael.  Maybe Michael will grow on me as I continue to read the rest of the series.  I hated Monica, and she needs to go away.

I could picture Morganville so well, and I thought Caine put a lot of thought into the characters, the plot, and the world.  I can’t believe I’m only reading this series now, but the other 11 books will be keeping me busy!

I give it a 4 out of 5.  It was fun and enjoyable.

Paranormalcy

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Book: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Book Info: Published by HarperTeen; 335 pages; hardcover; from the library

Goodreads Summary: 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.

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.

So much for normal.

I really liked Paranormalcy, and it’s definitely one of the more interesting paranormal books I’ve read.

I liked the idea of a paranormal containment agency, and making sure the different paranormal creatures follow the rules of the treaty and do what they’re supposed to.

I didn’t like Reth, but I did love Evie.  She’s so fun, and yet there were times I wanted to hug her.  She just wants to be normal, which I think is something we can all relate to.

Her guardian, Raquel, was strange in the sense that she didn’t seem to care about Evie and what Evie needed and wanted.  Plus, the IPCA didn’t seem to give Evie a lot of information about the different creatures, which probably would have made Evie’s job a lot easier.

It was cute, fun, and definitely different from a lot of other books I’ve read.  It’s certainly an interesting take on the paranormal genre, and I like that you see werewolves, hags, vampires and fairies all in one novel.  Instead of just one…or two who are at odds with each other.

I really want to know more about the Empty Ones, and all of the creatures who have to abide by the treaty.  I’m curious as to how the IPCA will re-group, whether Reth will keep appearing, and whether Evie will get the normal life she so wants.

It gets a 4 out of 5 for being a fun and refreshing read.

Crossed

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Book: Crossed by Ally Condie

Book Info: Published by Dutton Juvenile; 367 pages; hardcover; from the library

Goodreads Summary: Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky–taken by the Society to his sure death–only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices every thing to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.

Narrated from both Cassia’s and Ky’s point of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever.

I didn’t like Crossed.  At all.

It was pretty disappointing, and it felt like the whole book was filler.  I was so bored reading it, and I kept waiting for something to happen.  Matched was so promising, and I was hoping that a lot of the questions I had at the end of it would be answered.  Sadly, they weren’t.  In fact, I have even more questions.  I highly doubt any questions I have will be answered in the next book…which I might (or might not) read.

The poetry was irritating, and I kept waiting for it to stop.  Did Condie want us to know she really likes poetry by throwing it in a lot?

Not only that, I just couldn’t care about anything.  Xander’s secret?  Don’t care that he has one and that it’s not Ky’s place to reveal it to Cassia.  Why bother mentioning it if no one’s going to tell Cassia or if Xander isn’t around to mention it?

The narration didn’t work for me- it’s told by Ky and Cassia, who sound exactly the same.

I have to give it a 1 out of 5.  It was really disappointing, and it felt like Condie didn’t care about what happened to her characters.

Copper

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Copper is a band that I found randomly on iTunes.  And in my now-apparent quest to listen to a lot of music I don’t listen to very often, I thought I would turn the spotlight on Copper.

The Fragile Fall: I love By Now, Turn, and Need, but I really like a lot of the other songs too.  Why don’t I listen to them more?  I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot the last few Mondays.  But it’s really good, and I’m glad I came across them.

Take My Chances: I love this album!  I don’t love it as much as The Fragile Fall, but it’s still an album I really like.  I love Broken Sky, Take My Chances and Make You Mine.

There’s nothing else to add, so I’m sorry for such a short post.  But I’ll be back tomorrow with a (hopefully) longer post.

Illusions

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Book: Illusions by Aprilynne Pike

Book Info: Published by HarperCollins; 259 pages; read on my nook

Goodreads Summary: “I don’t do patrols, I don’t go hunting, I just stick close to you. You live your life. I’ll keep you safe,” Tamani said, sweeping a lock of hair from her face. “Or die trying.”

Laurel hasn’t seen Tamani since she begged him to let her go last year. Though her heart still aches, Laurel is confident that David was the right choice.

But just as life returns to normal, Laurel realizes that a hidden enemy lies in wait. Once again, Laurel must turn to Tamani to protect and guide her, for the danger that now threatens Avalon is one that no faerie thought would ever be possible. And for the first time, Laurel cannot be sure that her side will prevail.

Illusions is the 3rd book in the Wings series, and I’m glad I finished it in time to read Destined, the next book in the series.

I really liked it, and so far, it’s my favorite book in the series.  There’s the mysterious Yuki, and David and Tamani still hate each other.  I still find Laurel’s relationships with the both of them really irritating.  And Tamani provoking David so Laurel will get mad at David and go running to Tamani…I have no idea why it’s so irritating, but it is.

I loved the introduction of Yuki, who seems so clueless.  And yet you can’t help but wonder throughout the novel what she knows.  Is she a pawn in Klea’s game or not?  It turns out she’s a powerful Winter Faerie.  And the thing with Shar and Tamani with Yuki at the end?  I can’t wait to see the consequences of that event.

I liked that we learned more about Avalon, and how it was created.  The divide between Seelie and Unseelie, and how some of the Seelie Court became a part of the Unseelie Court was interesting, and hopefully we’ll get a few more tidbits about Avalon and it’s future.

It gets a 4 out of 5!  It was fast-paced and kept me guessing.