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GG 2 x 2: Hammers And Veils

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Hammers And Veils originally aired October 9, 2002.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Michael Kattleman.

We open Hammers And Veils with Lorelei using newspaper to decide on the right veil length.  She asks Rory for her opinion, but Rory is more interested in reading the newspaper on Lorelei’s head than she is giving an opinion.

At Chilton, Rory happens to be in the same area as Paris, Madeleine and Louise.  Madeleine mentions a build for a Habitat For Humanity-type company, and Paris starts talking about how Rory wouldn’t like doing the Habitat For Humanity.  She runs into Henry (the guy she and Lane met at the Chilton party) and talk about what classes they’re taking.  It’s physics, Shakespeare and obscure Russian poetry for Rory and trig for Henry.

I know I’ve said this before, but Chilton…what kind of school is this?  It feels more like a college than a high school sometimes!  Henry gives Rory his number because he’s scared of Mrs. Kim answering the phone again.

At Friday night dinner, Lorelei is really amused by Rory building a house.  She takes off her engagement ring, and still hasn’t told Richard and Emily about her engagement, even though the wedding is in 3 months.  Rory is giving Lorelei two weeks, before Rory says something.  Seriously, three months to plan a wedding?  It’s one of those things that seem like a lot of work…work that takes more than three months.  This episode is roughly a week after Sadie, Sadie, so things have moved awfully fast…or the timeline just got really messed up and the writers didn’t notice.  Richard apologizes to Rory again, and they really didn’t like fighting.

Meanwhile, Lorelei does tell Emily about her engagement.  Emily hopes they’ll be in town.  If not, she’ll send a nice gift.  After dinner, Lorelei rants about how it was a mistake to tell Emily, and how she regrets mentioning it.  I know they don’t have the best relationship, but Lorelei and her unwillingness to see things from Emily’s side is starting to get annoying.

Rory goes off to help build a house, with Lane dropping off instructions for her escape from Korea, and Dean laughing at Rory for wanting to do this.  It is a little strange, I’ll admit, Rory building a house.  But they make plans for that night.  Paris starts talking about all the extra stuff she’d done to get into Harvard- study groups, charity work, and tutoring, to name a few.  Rory realizes she is behind on such activities and wants to cancel her plans with Dean.  Not surprisingly, this doesn’t go over well with Dean.  Remember h0w last week, I felt kind of bad for Dean?  Well, it didn’t last very long, because Dean was super-annoying.  He thinks summer is a time for relaxing and hanging out, and could care less about Rory getting in Harvard.  You’d think by now he’d know how important Harvard is to Rory and that she has a bit of tunnel vision about it.

Lorelei and Max have dinner, where Lorelei’s still frustrated about what Emily said.  We do learn how one plans a wedding in a week, for a date 3 months in the future- by having Sookie cook, by having the ceremony at her house, and by having Patty supply the chairs.  Pretty impressive, doing all of that planning IN A WEEK.

They make a stop at Emily’s, where Lorelei wants to know what Emily said what she did, and if Emily knows how it felt to hear Emily say what she did.  Emily says it’s probably how Emily herself felt when she realized that Lorelei got engaged and told everyone else in her life first, and having to hear from a complete stranger that Lorelei was engaged.

Emily has a good point, and I really feel bad for Emily.  Lorelei doesn’t really look good in this scene.  Yeah, Emily and Lorelei have a ton of issues, and I do get Lorelei being worried about what they’ll think…but putting it off and wishing she never told Emily in the first place…it’s like Lorelei doesn’t even want to try to work things out or make an effort.

Lorelei learns about the party, Sookie babbles about how she wasn’t sure if she should invite Emily and Richard, but decided to invite them anyway, and we see the engagement party.  People dance, Rory and Dean make up, and Lorelei asks Luke to come.  A note about Rory and Dean making up- he apologizes, as does Rory.  Rory really shouldn’t have to apologize, but she’s Rory, so she apologizes for having tunnel vision, while Dean admits he got jealous of Harvard…even while liking Rory is going to go to Harvard.

We end the episode with Lorelei asking Emily for advice about veils.  Emily tells her that she’s capable of making her own decisions.  And Lorelei does apologize for not telling Emily, and talks about how she doesn’t know how to tell Emily things.  She does admit to maybe being partly to blame for the vicious cycle they get in…which really sounds insincere.  Emily tells Lorelei she might want to try a tiara, because it’s what she wore at her wedding.

Favorite Lines Or Scenes:

Rory reading the newspaper veil on Lorelei’s head

Pop Culture:

Thelma And Louise, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra

Final Thoughts:

This is a pretty interesting episode, and stuff definitely happens.  Lorelei and her rant about regretting telling Emily was irritating- and her “I hate my parents, who are evil and horrible” mentality is starting to get annoying and tired.  Still, Lorelei does appear to realize she hurt Emily by waiting to tell her about her engagement.  Hammers And Veils gets 3.5 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: City Of Dark Magic

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City Of Dark Magic CoverBook: City Of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

Published November 2012|Published by Penguin Books|448 pages|Borrowed the paperback from a friend

Series? Nope!  I read a stand-alone for once

Genre: Adult: Mystery/Time Travel/Something about it feels like a fantasy and paranormal novel…so that too!

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Magnus Flyte’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it’s whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is about to become. Prague is a threshold, Sarah is warned, and it is steeped in blood.

Soon after Sarah arrives, strange things begin to happen. She learns that her mentor, who was working at the castle, may not have committed suicide after all. Could his cryptic notes be warnings? As Sarah parses his clues about Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” she manages to get arrested, to have tantric sex in a public fountain, and to discover a time-warping drug. She also catches the attention of a four-hundred-year-old dwarf, the handsome Prince Max, and a powerful U.S. senator with secrets she will do anything to hide.

City of Dark Magic could be called a rom-com paranormal suspense novel—or it could simply be called one of the most entertaining novels of the year.

This was a really entertaining read.  For reals, I wasn’t sure about it for most of the book, but by the end…I was definitely interested.  I love the back-drop of Prague, and the places were described so well!  Plus, I like that there were a lot of different scholars working on different parts of the museum, and that we got to saw bits and pieces of that.

I love that it’s a mash-up, and that I had trouble exactly pin-pointing which genre (or genres, as it would be) this book falls into.  And there’s so much going on that any kind of synopsis I could come up with will not fully describe the entertainment that is City Of Dark Magic.  I was definitely intrigued by the toenail-induced time travel.  Yes, I just said toenail-induced time travel.  And if you’re wondering, it actually makes sense…in a totally weird way.  I loved the focus on Beethoven and his connection to, well, a lot of different things in the book.

There was lot going on, with quite a few characters, and while it was irritating at times, it really did make sense and come together at the end.  Sometimes, it almost felt like too many things were going on.  And I was expecting something involving magic…but perhaps that is in the music and the places and the people.  Because there is something magical about the book in general.  Sarah was interesting, but Nico was a lot of fun.

I was kept guessing, and I liked that I wasn’t completely sure what was going on until I was pretty much finished with the book.

Final Thoughts:

If you liked The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, you’ll like City Of Dark Magic.  It was fun, full of mystery and adventure, and well-worth the hours I spent reading it.  I didn’t completely love it, but it was still enjoyable.  It gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Endlessly

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Endlessly CoverBook: Endlessly by Kiersten White

Published July 2012|Published by HarperCollins

E-book|Purchased from the Nook store|400 pages

Series: Paranormalcy #3

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Kiersten White’s Website

Summary: Evie’s paranormal past keeps coming back to haunt her. A new director at the International Paranormal Containment Agency wants to drag her back to headquarters. The Dark Faerie Queen is torturing humans in her poisonous realm. And supernatural creatures keep insisting that Evie is the only one who can save them from a mysterious, perilous fate.

The clock is ticking on the entire paranormal world. And its fate rests solely in Evie’s hands.

So much for normal. 

I finally read Endlessly, the last book in the Paranormalcy trilogy.  I just love this trilogy, and I was definitely surprised by how the series ended.

Evie is one of my favorite characters ever, and it’s because she’s so funny!  Well, also because she’s pretty girly for a pretty kick-ass character, which makes her stand out.  But even when things were bad, she still managed to get a laugh out of me!

I love the world that White built, with an assortment of paranormal characters and the agency that is supposed to keep tabs on things.  It’s nice to see a series where you learn that a lot of the paranormal characters got sucked into our world because of fairies, and how they went back home before this world could destroy them.  Evie had a hard choice to make, and it was great to see her make the right decision- even when she struggled with it and she felt like she was forced into it.

I was really surprised by Reth, who was sort of likeable.  I wasn’t completely sold on him- not even in this one- but he really did surprise me.  I definitely understood him a lot more by the end of the book.  And the characters are really memorable and have their own personalities.  Which can be difficult with a such an interesting ensemble of characters.  But White does it, and does it really well.

I love that all of the characters and events of previous books come back, even when it’s been a few months since reading the previous book.

I loved the Faerie Realms, and they were described so well.  They sounded so pretty, and how they came to be was great.  Everything tied together so well, and while Endlessly didn’t seem long enough, I’m glad Evie and Lend had their happily ever after.  It’s a shame we didn’t get some sort of epilogue, but the series ended on a great note.

Final Thoughts:

Endlessly wrapped up this series really well.  It was fun, hilarious, action-packed and dramatic.  Evie really is a great character…well, a lot of the characters are great.  Endlessly gets 5 stars.

Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

13 Little Blue EnvelopesBook: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson|Narrated by Emily Durante

Published December 2010|Published by HarperCollins|6 hours 51 minutes|Audio Book via the library

Series? 13 Little Blue Envelopes #1

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Maureen Johnson’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn’t know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

I have mixed feelings about 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  I like the idea of 13 envelopes that taking Ginny on this interesting adventure through Europe, but the book didn’t quite work for me.  I mean, Ginny has the chance for a lot of adventure but it felt like she was just going through the motions.  Seriously, it felt like she didn’t care about having fun or exploring Europe or getting to know some of the people her aunt became friends with or admired.  She was just so disinterested in her trip that it was hard to care about her journey.

Ginny really zipped through those envelopes, which took her to a lot of different places.  As a result, she never really got to spend a lot of time in each place.  Overall, it was hard to connect with Ginny and her taking the same trip through Europe that her aunt took.  And I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about Ginny, who was pretty lackluster, and didn’t seem to have a personality.  Actually, lackluster describes pretty much every single character in the book.

And the rules surrounding this trip through Europe.  No maps, no guidebooks, all of her belongings have to fit into a huge back-pack…only the money her aunt has set up for her, and Ginny has no idea how much that is until she can get to an ATM.  Oh, and no cell phone, no contacting her family and friends, unless it’s a hand-written letter or postcard…and of course, no way for them to contact 17-year-old Ginny.  I’m willing to overlook a lot in YA, but who lets their 17-year-old traipse around Europe with not a lot of money and no way of keeping in contact?

And the narration?  It was okay.  Not amazing, but not completely horrible.  It did work fairly well as an audio book, but the narration itself doesn’t really stand out.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, 13 Little Blue Envelopes was pretty uninspiring.  It could have been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I felt like Ginny was just going through the motions.  I liked the concept of the novel, but it just didn’t work for me.  It gets 2 stars.

Book Review: The Things A Brother Knows

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The Things A Brother Knows CoverBook: The Things A Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt

Published September 2010|Published by Wendy Lamb Books

E-book|Borrowed from the library|166 pages

Series Or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Dana Reinhardt’s Website

Summary: The story of a young marine’s return from war in the Middle East and the psychological effects it has on his family.

Finally, Levi Katznelson’s older brother, Boaz, has returned. Boaz was a high school star who had it all and gave it up to serve in a war Levi can’t understand. Things have been on hold since Boaz left. With the help of his two best friends Levi has fumbled his way through high school, weary of his role as little brother to the hero.

But when Boaz walks through the front door after his tour of duty is over, Levi knows there’s something wrong. Boaz is home, safe. But Levi knows that his brother is not the same.

Maybe things will never return to normal. Then Boaz leaves again, and this time Levi follows him, determined to understand who his brother was, who he has become, and how to bring him home again.

Award-winning author Dana Reinhardt introduces readers to Levi, who has never known what he believes, and whose journey reveals truths only a brother knows.

There are so many things I liked about The Things A Brother Knows!  I liked that it focused on the relationship between two brothers, and how Boaz joining the military has affected his family.  You definitely hear about how war can and does affect soldiers, but I kinda feel like you don’t really hear about their families and how their loved one going off to war affects them.  Growing up in a navy town- but with no connections to the Navy, other than knowing my grandpa was in the Navy- you do hear about navy ships being deployed and their families seeing them off and welcoming them home.

I liked that you saw things through Levi’s eyes, and how he struggled with his own feelings about his brother joining the marines and how that compared to what other people thought.  That other people thought Boaz was a hero, while Levi sometimes seemed to wonder what was so great about his brother joining the marines.  It wasn’t what I was expecting from Levi, but I can imagine that there are people out there, who just want their loved ones, home and safe.

I loved how Levi followed his brother on his journey to D.C., and how Boaz’s family wasn’t quite sure how to help him.  They definitely have an interesting relationship, which has changed over the years.  It even changes a bit throughout the book, but I wish we got to see a little more of their relationship before the start of the book.  You get enough to see the difference, but a little more would have been nice.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked The Things A Brother Knows.  It’s a great look at how families deal with a relative going off to war, and a really great look at the relationship between 2 brothers.  It wasn’t completely amazing, but I still thought it was a great book.  It gets 4 stars.

GG 2 x 1: Sadie, Sadie

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Sadie, Sadie originally aired on October 9, 2001.  It was written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

We open Sadie, Sadie with yellow daisies all over town.  Rory is coming up with all kinds of wedding suggestions for Lorelei’s wedding.  Lorelei hasn’t made up her mind about whether she gets married or not.  Which is actually pretty smart.

From there, Rory drops off some flowers at Lane’s house, where we learn Lane is going to Korea for the summer.  The problem is that Lane’s parents got her a one-way ticket and won’t tell her when she’s coming back.  Meanwhile, Lorelei is looking at a bridal magazine at Bootsie’s newsstand.  Miss Patty sees her looking at the magazine, gets excited and then asks if Luke knows.  Lorelei and Rory walk to the diner, and a lot of people are following them to see her tell Luke.  At this point, it’s no big secret in town that Luke has a thing for Lorelei, so naturally everyone wants to see his reaction.

She tells him, and he’s asking her things like where she’ll live and if they’ll have more kids.  Lorelei isn’t happy with Luke’s questions, so she goes back to the table.

At Friday night dinner, Emily tells Lorelei and Rory that Rory is in the top 3% of her class, having heard it from Headmaster Charleston’s wife.  Lorelei says she knows, and Emily wants to know who Lorelei knows at Chilton…that person being Rory, of course.  Richard comes in and announces Rory’s big accomplishment, only to learn they already knew.  Emily tells Rory they’ll have an extra-special dinner the following week.

Lorelei randomly calls Max during dinner, and starts asking him the same questions Luke had asked her.  She accepts his proposal, goes back inside, and silently lets Rory know she and Max are getting married.  They start jumping up and down screaming, and they tell Emily and Richard it’s because of Rory doing well at school.

Dean comes over, and since Rory can invite someone to Friday night dinner, she asks him.  He agrees, but when they finally arrive, Emily isn’t exactly thrilled Dean is there.  I don’t blame her, after the dance.  But she does act pretty nice to Dean, which is very different than Richard’s reaction.

He is less than thrilled, and during dinner, starts asking Dean a lot of different questions.  Like, where Dean wants to go to college, and what grades Dean gets.  Dean isn’t sure about where he wants to go to college, and gets a couple A’s, a couple B’s, and a few C’s.  Plus, he’s not sure what he wants to do once he graduates college.  Richard responds to this by saying that Rory is smart, is going to an Ivy League college and is going to need top grades to get into a top school.  She also has plans and wants to travel.  Richard also talks about how when he was 10, he knew he wanted to go to Yale, travel, work in an office, and wear a nice suit.  And then he says the family has high standards and how Rory has to live up to those standards.  And since she does, everyone she’s in contact with needs to live up to those standards as well, because there are some people (meaning Dean) who are going to bring her down.

This whole time, they’re trying to get Richard to leave Dean alone, and go easy on him, but it doesn’t work.  Rory defends him, and Rory, Lorelei and Dean end up leaving.

I never thought Dean and Rory were well-matched, and I am not a big of Dean.  But even Dean doesn’t deserve the questions asked and things Richard kept saying.  I mean, saying that Dean is going to bring her down because he doesn’t get the grades she does, and doesn’t know where he’s going to college or what he wants to do is uncalled for.  I’m 26, and half the time, I still don’t know what I want to do.  Besides, Rory is pretty unusual, and not everyone knows what they want to do at 16.

After they get home, Lorelei tries to reassure Rory and tells her that it’s more about Lorelei not being the daughter they expected.  We also see how Emily isn’t happy with Richard, who didn’t expect her to bring Dean.  Richard thinks proper socialization is important, but she shouldn’t date one boy, and she most certainly should not date Dean.  Sookie calls Emily while she and Richard are talking, and invites them to Lorelei’s bridal shower.  This is the point where we learn Lorelei never told her parents she was getting married.  I know it’s been around a week, and that Lorelei still doesn’t have the best relationship, but it’s weird that it takes her a while to tell them.  Emily tells Richard he needs to apologize to Rory because Lorelei’s getting married and didn’t tell them, and she wants Rory to tell them when she gets married.  Emily did (understandably) look upset.

The episode ends with Lorelei and Max talking on the porch.

Favorite Lines And/Or Scenes:

Nothing really jumped out at me in this one, except for the first Friday night dinner

Pop Culture:

All In The Family, Sally Field, Cujo, Frank Sinatra

Final Thoughts:

There is a lot going on in this episode, but that’s not surprising, given that it’s the first one of Season Two.  Richard was pretty horrible to Dean and Lorelei gets engaged but doesn’t tell her parents.  These are pretty important happenings, and they’ll show up again.  I didn’t love Sadie, Sadie, but it was still a pretty decent episode, so it gets 4 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: Faking Faith

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Faking Faith CoverBook: Faking Faith by Josie Bloss

Published September 2011|Published by Llewellyn Worldwide|164 pages|E-book via the library

Series? No

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Josie Bloss’ Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Dylann Mahoney is living one big unholy lie.

Thanks to a humiliating and painfully public sexting incident, Dylan has become the social pariah at her suburban Chicago high school. She’s ignored by everyone–when she’s not being taunted–and estranged from her two best friends. So when Dylan discovers the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls, she’s immediately drawn into their fascinating world of hope chests, chaperoned courtships, and wifely submission.

Blogging as Faith, her devout and wholesome alter ego, Dylan befriends Abigail, the online group’s queen bee. After staying with Abigail and her family for a few days, Dylan begins to grow closer to Abigail (and her intriguingly complicated older brother). Soon, Dylan is forced to choose: keep living a lie . . . or come clean and face the consequences.

I was intrigued by Faking Faith.  I mean, Dylan goes from sexting to pretending to be a fundamentalist Christian.  I get why she’s initially drawn in, and how she was able to take the good from Abigail’s life.  You sort of see her appreciate her own life after visiting Abigail.

I was definitely intrigued by Abigail and her family and their beliefs.  I’m fairly certain there are more than a few people out there who think families like Abigail’s are strange and maybe even a little crazy.  I would say Faking Faith falls somewhere between a super-positive portrayal of Abigail’s family and a really negative one.  You see both, but there were times when I felt like Bloss leaned more towards portraying them in a negative way, which was kind of irritating.  That being said, I was glad to see Dylan’s appreciation of her own life.

At the risk of being repetitive, I’m going to move on to something else.  Abigail and Dylan are so very different, but both are interesting characters who are just trying to make it through life.  I definitely connected more with Abigail, which is probably because I felt like we’re a lot more alike than myself and Dylan.  Although I do understand Dylan getting really into those blogs.  The internet is a fun and slightly scary time-waster.  You only mean to spend a few minutes looking at something…and hours later you realize you just need to stop.  I did like the contrast between the two girls and thought it was pretty well-done.  I would have liked more contrast to Abigail’s dad, because that would have been more interesting to me.  Then again, it’s not about Abigail’s dad, it’s about Dylan.

Final Thoughts:

I’m not really sure what to say about Faking Faith.  I liked, and while I didn’t completely love the portrayal of the Dean family, they are a nice contrast to Dylan and her family.  It gets 3 stars.

Book Review: Sweet Venom

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Sweet Venom CoverBook: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Published September 2011|Published by HarperCollins|384 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series?  Yes, Medusa Girls #1

Genre: YA: Fantasy/Paranormal- Mythology Re-telling

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Tera Lynn Childs’ Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they’re triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful Gorgon maligned in myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

I’ve been going back and forth for a while, trying to figure out if I wanted to read Sweet Venom or not.  But I finally bought it, read it, and really liked it!

I’m a fan of mythology re-tellings (especially when it’s Greek mythology), and I really liked that it focused on Medusa and her descendants.  I mean, triplets representing Medusa and her sisters, and each one having the characteristics of each one is pretty cool.  The prophecy part of it was kind of interesting, even if it was expected.  We are talking about Greek mythology so a prophecy is expected.

I liked that all three characters- Gretchen, Greer and Grace- narrated the novel.  And I LOVED that they were all very different characters, and I knew who was narrating without even needing to look at the chapter headings.  Sometimes, multiple narrators don’t work, but this a great case where it does work.

Grace is my favorite of the three, but Greer is also intriguing.  Gretchen is interesting, and most of the story is told through her eyes, but I just couldn’t completely connect with her the way I did with the other two.  There’s definitely a lot that can happen, and I have the feeling there are going to be some personality conflicts between Gretchen and Greer, with Grace playing mediator.

I liked seeing each one deal with the prophecy and the discovery that they are triplets with a destiny.  I was hoping for more of a connection between Medusa and the triplets, and that we’d get a little more about Medusa, but with some reading up on mythology (and the next book) I should be good.

Plus, San Fransisco totally works as the setting.  I can see the portal that leads monsters to our world being located in San Fransisco.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked Sweet Venom, and can’t wait to read Sweet Shadows.  It’s nice to see a re-telling focusing on Medusa, and I love that Gretchen, Greer and Grace are so different but still have to find a way to work together.  Sweet Venom gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Last Breath

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Last Breath CoverBook: Last Breath by Rachel Caine

Published November 2011|Published by Penguin Group|368 pages|Purchased for my Nook

Series Or Stand-Alone: Morganville Vampires #11

Genre: YA: Paranormal- Vampires

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Rachel Caine’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Student Claire Danvers learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. And after an uneasy encounter with Morganville’s latest resident, Claire is certain that the mysterious Magnus isn’t human. But is he a vampire-or something else entirely? One thing is clear: Magnus is to blame for the disappearances. And if vampires are turning into victims, what chance does a human like Claire have of stopping him?

My journey in Morganville is progressing quite well, and I thought Last Breath was easily the most interesting in terms of strange people and happenings in Morganville.

Amelie picking Morganville as the location of her town makes so much sense after reading this book.  I mean, Magnus, and only Claire can see him at first?  Crazy!  And there’s this major thing that happened that I don’t want to give away, but anyone who’s read Last Breath will probably be able to figure it out.  I mean, I wasn’t expecting it, but even that managed to work out in the end.  I wonder if there will be any repercussions for that…

Caine continues with multiple narrators, and we see chapters where Shane, Michael, Eve and Amelie are narrating.  It was really well-done, and I liked seeing everyone else’s thoughts on what was going on.  It’s too bad we don’t see Myrnin narrating in this book, so I’m hoping that if Caine continues with multiple narrators, Myrnin will get a chapter or two.

After reading this one, I’m definitely excited to read the next book.  And Eve and Michael getting married?  Definitely not going to happen, because Amelie won’t approve it, and both the vampire and human residents of Morganville aren’t happy with it.  I’m hoping that they get married, and I don’t want that story-line to just randomly go away…so hopefully it’s not the last we’ve seen of it.  With the Magnus plot, it’s understandable that the marriage half of the book would get dropped.

There are just SO MANY things I’m wondering about, mostly having to do with the event that I will not in this review.  Just…at this point, I’m certain that there are going to be consequences to what resolved that event (which really does make the title super-appropriate).  Something that’s been a constant is now different, so I just want to know what happens!

Final thoughts:

I loved Last Breath, and it’s definitely one of my favorite books in the series.  There’s so much going on, and it’s easier then normal to stay interested and keep reading.  Last Breath gets 5 stars.

Gilmore Girls: Season One Wrap-Up

Posted in Season One, Season Wrap-Up, The Gilmore Girls Project by

I can’t believe I’m finished with Season One of Gilmore Girls already!  Season Two will begin next week, but for today, I thought I’d share some of my general thoughts on Season One.

It’s definitely been a learning experience, and I’m definitely trying to include more of my thoughts on the show.  I’ve also learned that writing the posts on each episode are a lot easier when I take notes and then write the episode, instead of writing the post as I watch the episode.  The one thing I still struggle with is not including spoilers for future seasons.  Clearly, I have spoilers for each episode, but the hard part is when I see something that’s important in later seasons.  Believe me when I say that I’ve noticed quite a few things in season one that I never realized were mentioned so early on!  If I do include spoilers for future seasons, I’ll definitely put up spoiler alerts.  It will definitely be kept to a minimum.

So…season one had 21 episodes.  The lowest rated episodes were Episodes 8 (Love & Snow & War) and 18 (The Third Lorelei), which got 2 mugs of coffee.  And Episode 15 (Christopher Returns) got 5 mugs of coffee.  I think those were my least favorite and favorite episodes.

In general, I liked Season One.  I just love the town events and the very strange people that live in Stars Hollow.  I’m so glad we get to see town events!  And I love that the show is about mother-daughter relationships, and how there are so many different relationships.  A lot of times, Friday night dinners are funny, but I think they also show how different Lorelei is from her parents.

Re-watching this season, I realized that Rory is a bit too perfect.  I’m not completely sure if she falls into Mary Sue territory, but she does have a few Mary Sue tendencies.  As much as I like Rory, and as much as I love that she’s smart and loves to read, I kinda thought she’s a bit too unbelievable at times.  Seriously, how many 16 years-old read classics willingly?  I suppose it’s possible, and it is a t.v. show after all.  You really have to love the magic and logic of t.v. sometimes.

But I also think it’s partly in contrast to Lorelei.  Lorelei getting pregnant at 16, not wanting to get married, and leaving home to work as a maid and live in a tool shed is pretty well-known, and we definitely know that Lorelei’s a disappointment and made some mistakes. So, you have to wonder if Rory being this amazingly smart, nice person that almost everyone loves and who doesn’t do anything wrong is a way of showing how different she is from her mother, and to show how different their relationship is from the one Lorelei and Emily have.  We only get bits and pieces of what happened when Lorelei was pregnant, and we continue to get bits and pieces of her relationship with her throughout the series.  I can’t remember how much we get from Emily and Richard’s perspective, but in comparison to Lorelei’s side of what happened, it’s definitely not a lot.  I may have to pay more attention to that.

I certainly can’t pass up talking about their love interests.  Lorelei first…her and Max!  Thinking about it now, I’m not completely sold on her and Max.  They just seem too different to completely work.  And that goes for Rory and Dean too.  I’m not the biggest fan of Dean, and there are times when I think he’s a jerk.  But there are a few times when I feel a little bad for Dean too.

I’m generally not one for nit-picking but there are some things I thought were strange.  I already mentioned Rory being kind of perfect, but it also seems like her only friends are Lane, Lorelei and Sookie.  It’s possible she has other friends we never hear about, but still weird.  The more likely possibility is that the cast is already a pretty big cast, and so the powers that be didn’t want to add more people to the cast.  But you’d think they’d at least mention other friends, even if they don’t make an appearance.  And Stars Hollow High and Chilton are certainly interesting schools, if they have majors and open up classrooms for students on weekends to work on a group project.

Overall, I did like season one, which had overall rating of 3.29.  I’m really looking forward to watching season 2.