Update: Be back soon.

I'm headed out of town for a few days, so I won't be on here posting anything new. But I won't be gone very long. And I will be posting my review about 13 to Life by Shannon Delany as soon as I can. I was an AWESOME book!!!

Update: About the Music.

Just wanted to let everyone know about the music thing. I like listening to music while I read if I can, without it I can get very easily distracted. :) On Thursdays when the mowers are out in the neighborhood and I want to sit outside reading, the music comes in handy, and at night when I like to relax in bed and read, the music does wonders when I'm trying to tune out the video game players in my room ;).

Book Review: Dark Flame.

This is the fourth book in The Immortals series by Alyson Noel, and all I can really say is wow. This is definitely the best book yet. Hands down. While I have enjoyed the first three, I wasn't as into them as I have been other series, but after Shadowland, which was also great, and now Dark Flame, I am a full fledged fan.

Ever and Damen have gone centuries without fulfilling their love, in every physical way. The emotional and mental ways have been fulfilled over and over, and as far as both of them are concern there has never been and never will be any doubt as to who their soul mate is.

Ever is so tore up inside, she has told her friend Haven what she has done to her, turned her immortal, in order to save her life, and expects the worst reaction possible from Haven. Instead Haven is super excited, but already too drunk with power, this makes Ever feels even worse. Roman, the Immortal who has cursed Ever and her soul mate, Damen, from ever physically touching each other, is now Haven's true love, which is even worse, because he is Ever's sworn enemy. After Ever tries a binding spell, one to get Roman to do her bidding, and it backfires on her, she is now bound to him. Not in doing his bidding, but in a sensual, physical form, a need to have him. It's a fire inside her that she can't resist. After she tries to unbind herself, and that only succeeds in making the bond even stronger so she turn to Jude, her long time love, many lifetimes over. Only to have her soul mate come in and take her away.

Jude doesn't understand all the circumstances but is still willing enough to help, he loves Ever, despite everything, despite the fact that she loves Damen. As she searches to find a solution, she loses what has made her feel immortal, her beauty, her strength, she feels weak, and she feels a desperate need to be with Roman, and terrified to tell Damen, sure he will finally be through with his patience for her.

Finally coming to terms with the beast inside of her, the dark flame that burns for Roman, she centers herself, and approaches Roman, desperate for the antidote to her and Damen's problems. Once Roman trusts her, Jude misjudges the situation, and interrupts. Leaving in the wake a disaster, Roman is gone, the antidote is now gone forever, Haven is consumed with hate for all of them, determined to destroy every bit of their lives, and Jude has lost his love again. Ever and Damen are left to figure out the pieces and where to go from there.

I'm so excited that this book was this good, and I can't wait until the next one comes out this winter, I would definitely recommend this to all my friends :)

Rating: Number 4 and 3 stars


Dark Flame
Alyson Noel

Book Review: Grave Sight.

This post isn't just about Grave Sight, it's about all four of the Harper Connelly books. Just like I do with all the series I read, I wait until I have finished the last one in publication before I post. I really like all four of these books, like I said before, they ain't no Sookie Stackhouse, but Harper Connelly did a wonderful job of separating herself and getting her own spotlight.

One thing I especially loved that was different from many other series, was the fact that each book ended. Like it began with a story and at the end that specific story concluded, it didn't leave you hanging and anticipating the next book so bad it was like a drug. Given there were some things that weren't ' solved' until the very last book, that were brought into play in the first, they weren't the main focus. I enjoyed this because I was able to get a new story in each book, not one looong drawn out story, I like that.

Harper Connelly spent the early part of her childhood in an upscale neighborhood with her mom, dad, and older sister, Cameron. Her parents were lawyers, made a good living, they had a maid and loved their lives. Then their dad got busted for embezzling and a few other white collar crimes, and her mother remarried, to another lawyer. With the new step dad came new siblings, Tolliver and Mark were her step brothers, their mother had died of cancer. Once they got married their parents decided that defending the bad guys wasn't nearly as fun as partying with them, and that began the downward spiral. The ended up in a trailer with the four of them, plus their parents, and to make it even more complicated, their parents decided to go and have two more kids, Gracie and Mariella.

When Harper was 15 she was struck by lightening, and if Tolliver hadn't been there to save her life by immediately giving her CPR, she would have died. They had to fight her step dad and then sneak to even call an ambulance. When Cameron was 18 she was abducted off the side of the road on her way home from school. Their life completely fell apart. The seams that had been worn ragged from what little life they had finally busted. The two babies were taken by her aunt and uncle to raise, Harper was sent to foster care, Tolliver moved in with Mark who was old enough to live on his own and both their parents went to jail.

After being struck by lightening, Harper realizes she now has a special ability, she can sense the dead. When she is near the dead, she starts to get a humming in her head, if it's a recent death it's like a loud buzz, if it's an older death it's like a faint mosquito. When she encounters the bones, or body of a bead person, she can tell you who it is, tell their identity, and tell you how they died, she can kind of 'see' their last minutes of life, but never see who or what killed them if it wasn't a natural death.

The lightening strike left her slightly weak in her leg and with headaches at times, so working  normal job was not that good an option, so her and her 'brother' Tolliver set out across the country, taking jobs to 'read' the dead. Sometimes it was from families who just wanted to confirm that a family member died of what the official report said they did, and sometimes she worked with the police, finding a body of a missing person or persons they were looking for. She was always right.

I really liked these books, I enjoyed reading them, I wouldn't recommend them for anyone under the age 16 due to the fact that there is a few sex scenes in them. Especially since Harper and her 'brother' Tolliver, aren't really brother and sister at all, and they realize exactly how much they love each other. ;) I would definitely recommend them to my friends.

Rating: Number 3 and 4 stars : This has sexual content.

Grave Sight
Grave Surprise
Ice Cold Grave
Grave Secret
Charlaine Harris

Update: What I'm Reading

I'm doing that not posting until I finish the series thing again, I'm reading all of Charlaine Harris's Grave series, I'm on book three, and so far so good. I mean of course these ain't no Sookie Stackhouse, but they are still pretty good ;) I will blog more about each of them as I finish up the series.

Book Review: The Host.

Reading this book was not like reading Stephanie Meyer's other books, The Twilight Saga, those books were written with teenagers in mind, this was for adults. It took me a long time to pick this one up and read it, obviously, since it's been out so long, mainly because I really enjoyed the Twilight Saga, and everyone I had talked to who had read both said that this wasn't as good. I didn't want to be disappointed, so I stayed away from it. That was just plain dumb of me.

This was a wonderful book, I absolutely loved it. Yes, it went a completely different direction than her original works, but it was still somewhat supernatural. It was about space aliens taking over earth. Hello, definitely paranormal :) It was also about love, true, strong, binding love, not that much different than Bella and Edward... except that this seemed more grown up on so many levels. Hence written for adults.

The aliens, or Souls, as they call themselves, have taken over the planet Earth. It's not the first world they have taken, and won't be the last. It is the first with emotion, and memories, and needs and wants, that go beyond just survival, after all we humans are a selfish bunch. The souls came to Earth because we were violent, and because we had such a wonderful planet, yet in out pettiness we let it go to waste and were to greedy to control what ruin we did. The came in and very stealthily took over, the only noticeable changes at first were the fact that everyone was all of a sudden so nice, and the fact that their eyes suddenly were reflective. The souls do not believe in violence at all. The would no more harm another being any more than you or I would cut off our own arm. The are a peaceful species, bringing peace to a hateful world. Unfortunately not all humans see it that way, and once some humans figured out what was going on, they took to the hills, literally. They made a little community in the mountains and became rebel fugitives, if the souls believed in such a thing as fugitives.

No one hunted them, really, it was just if they were found out they were taken to a healer and a soul was placed in their body, sometimes the humans would fight and then the souls would protect themselves, but other than that, no violence, except for the few rebel souls themselves.

Wanderer, Wanda, as all her new friends and family call her, has just recently been placed inside the body of a former rebel. The rebel, Melanie, was a strong one, and to Wanda's great despair, Melanie still is strong, and only gets stronger as each day passes. She should be getting weaker, the host is not supposed to still be present after the soul has taken over. Wanderer was giver her name adequately, she has lived eight lives before this one, never finding a place where she felt she belonged, never wanting to settle, so she wandered to different worlds. Now placed inside this rebellious host, she is starting to grow a kinship with Melanie, and Melanie's memories, and feelings. She realizes that she has fallen in love with the love of Melanie's life, and that she would die to protect the little brother Jamie, that Melanie wants so desperately to find.

Trying to get away from her seeker, and unfortunate rebellious soul, Wanderer decides to drive to her old healer to ask his advice before she decides to give up on this host and be placed in another, Melanie is getting to strong, and that could be dangerous. On her way she reaches a small town that peeks Melanie's interest from inside her mind, Melanie convinces her to drive a little way into the desert. A little way turned into a little more, then a little more until they were hopelessly lost, by this time Mel had Wanda convinced to search out her Uncle Jeb, another human rebel, who knew the mountains nearby, who could save them.

Four days in the desert almost killed them both, but then Jeb found her, bringing her back to his home almost killed them as well. She wasn't a human, she was a soul, but she was in Melanie's body, that was the only thing that kept her alive. Proving that she meant them no harm took a long time, working side by side, and twice as hard reaped very little benefits, but it helped her stay happy. Jamie, her brother couldn't have been more happy, especially when he learned that it wasn't just Wanda, that Melanie was still in there and she still talked to Wanda. He was happy to have his sister back. Jared, the love of Melanie's life was there as well. He hated this thing that Melanie was now, this creature, but he still loved Melanie will his whole heart. Eventually he became to respect Wanda as well, and even became her ally.

Wanderer had never before found in her own species, what she now found in this one, love, friendship, honor, everything she could ever want, but she had no way to hold on to it, it didn't belong to her it belonged to Melanie. With all of this going on around her she found the time to fall in love for herself, Wanda fell in love with Ian, and Ian fell in love with her, not her and Melanie, just her. When she decided to give Melanie back her world, it broke not only Wanda's heart, but Ian's as well.

Wanda didn't want to be a parasite anymore, she wanted to give the humans what they all deserved, and she didn't deserve anything they had, she wasn't one of them. Even though she loved them more than she could ever express. So when she snuck off to Doc and closed her eyes, she thought that would be her last goodbye. Opening her eyes again was strange, especially since they weren't in Melanie's body, once she realized what had happened she was angry, and relived at the same time, she got to stay, Melanie was free, and they had put Wanda into another host, one that wasn't present at all, so there was no one in her mind but herself. She was able to stay, to love and to be loved.

I loved this story.

Ratings: Number 4 and 4 stars

The Host
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Infinity.

I didn't know much about this author until after I read the book and was looking up the cover to put a picture next to my post. After reading up on her and her Dark-Hunter series. I'm pretty impressed. This isn't technically the first in this series, a book about Kyrian is, but this one is the first about Nick. This series will consist of twelve novels total and will actually end up tying into her original Dark Hunter series in another spot... what a cool concept. So when you are reading this, you are actually reading the other story, but you are going back in time and trying to change the future so that the other books will change.. I'm loving this plot so far, and am definitely going to submerge myself in her other books!

Nick is fourteen, he lives at home, well he lives in a dumb of a renovated old house turned studio apartment, with his mom. She found out she was pregnant when she was fourteen, and instead of giving him up for adoption, she turned her back on her family, their money and her education, and decided that she wanted to raise her son. And for the last fourteen years that's exactly what she has been doing. unfortunately it hasn't been the best life for either of them, being poor is never really fun. She works as an exotic dancer and he has earned a scholarship into a prestigious school, obviously he isn't there for money, only smarts, the kids there never seem to give him a break.

He gets picked on from day in to day out, and if that's not bad enough, his mom thinks he is over exaggerating. One night he runs into some of his other hoodlum buddies, they want him to help them make a few quick bucks. He goes along, until he realizes that a few bucks is coming from mugging an old couple. He stops the mugging, only to get himself beat up and shot, what a reward. Saved by Kyrian, he spends the next few days in the hospital, where he meets who he thinks is the girl of his dreams, Kody, he just hasn't figured out yet that she could very well be the girl of his nightmares.

If all of this isn't bad enough, all of a sudden his school is being over run by zombies, flesh eating, drooling zombies. But it wouldn't be so bad if they were normal zombies, you could kill those, but these are undead- undead zombies. The kids he goes to school with who are alive, hearts beating, still breathing are all turning into zombies, and they are after him, of all people. Once Kyrian enters his life things start to change, he learns that werewolves are real, vampires are real, and demons are real, but not all demons are bad, it's like a race thing. Like blacks and whites, u can't hate someone because of their color, so you can't hate them just because they are a demon, some are good, some are bad. Nick is completely confused.

After saving the day from zombies, and rescuing everyone he cares for, everything goes back to normal, on the outside. But deep inside Nick has changed and so has everything in New Orleans, there is Evil here now, a bad evil a strong evil, and he is the one who is going to have to learn to stop it or become part of it.

Honestly when I first read it I thought it was lacking a lot of information, but after reading up on it, I realize that to get the info I want I'm going to have to read some of the Dark Hunter series. So read up I believe this is going to be a great series.

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

Infinity
Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Review: The Lovely Bones.

When I picked this book up, I was excited. I saw the movie, and it was good. I've read multiple reviews about the book, and everything I read said that the movie didn't come close to being as good as the book. So yeah I was definitely reading this.

It's no secret that I'm a speed reader, I flew through Breaking Dawn in about 13 hours, and The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare took me all of 4 days to read all of them. But when I read this book, as small as it is, it took me over two days. The reason is, this book was boring. I had to draggggg myself through it. And that took forever.

When I sat down to read it I was like ok, here we go, a great book. But soon after I was extremely disappointed. I don't know what book those other reviewers were reading, or if they even read the book, or just watched the movie, but this book was bland. That's something you will rarely ever hear me say, a movie was better than the book. It has a great story plot, great characters, and could be an amazing novel, but the presentation was lacking a lot.

In a quiet suburbia in the 1970's a girl was abducted and murdered. Things like this didn't happen then, Things like this didn't happen there, in this neighborhood, maybe in big cities, but not there. Susie was a regular girl, had a mom and dad, a little brother and sister. She had dreams and goals, and was going to grow up and be something someday. Until Mr. Harvey violently took it all away from her. The police scoured the surrounding area, looking everywhere they could think of. The cornfield, where she was murdered, the neighbors houses, backyards, gutters, everywhere, but not a trace of her body was ever discovered. Until a neighbors dog came home one day with a body part in his mouth, an elbow, Susie's elbow. After that all their worst fears were realized, Susie was in fact dead.

From Heaven, Susie watches her family grieve, each in their own way. She watches her mother turn inside her self and then start to lean towards escaping, she watches her father cling to everything that could have ever reminded him of his first born baby girl. Her sister turns to steel and keeps everything inside, never letting anyone see how it effects her, and her baby brother is too young to understand why Susie isn't coming home anymore. She watches through the years as they grow up, and grow apart and then finally grow back together, like they should have always been. She sees her family struggle and she tries to protect them the best she can. The way they all wish they had been able to do for her. In the end Susie realizes that her family is finally safe and finally healing, it's time to go.

See what I mean by a good story plot, it could have been a wonderful book, such a shame, really. I'm not sure who I would recommend this to, if anyone. It has nothing offensive in it, but due to the emotional aspect of it, I would say that it's a teen or older book.

Ratings:Number 2 and 2 stars

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold

Book Review: The Island of Eternal Love : #2

This is my second post on the book The Island of Eternal Love. The first one was short and really uninformative, sorry about that. It was late at night when I finally finished reading the book and I just wanted to write something, it was such a good book. The copy I read was a Limited Edition Uncorrected Proof ( those are always cool to find ).

Now I'm here, trying to think about about what I wrote in that one. Well, whatever I wrote it wasn't enough, so now I'm going to write what I should have all along. The book follows three families. Generation through generation we watch them grow, from babies to mother and fathers to grandparents, and we watch their children do the same. The families do not know of each other as in they are three families connected in the same circle or same town, but they are three families connected, throughout time.

Cecilia escaped Cuba during a time of great terror. When the probability of dying greatly outweighed the possibility of living. After both her parents had already died, she was left with nothing to do but figure out her own escape. Fleeing with the rest seemed like the only solution. The tiny raft that floated, tossed and turned throughout the ocean, took her to America, to Miami, a new place, a new start. A much bigger chance of survival.

Now with her successful career as a journalist, Cecilia has happened upon a story that leads her to a phantom house. A few people around Miami have seen this house appear, seemingly out of no where, on dark night, in vacant lots. The lights are always on, the house is well out of date and the old fashioned clothes that the silent strangers on the porch wear let anyone who see this house know that it's form the spirit world. As she gets more and more intrigued my this story, she also meets a woman, Amalia. Amalia starts telling Cecilia a story that started long ago, in the far reaches of the globe and ends in the present day. From the moment she begins to reveal what happened all those years ago, Cecilia is hooked, no longer can she think, or dream of anything other than what this woman is going to tell her next.

The families started their journeys in China, Africa, and Spain. The Chinese family, the Wongs, story really begins with a child by the name of Kui-fa in the year of 1919. She was only eleven then, but as she grew her uncle married her to a young man who was smart and well off in a business way. But soon after the wedding and the birth of their son, he left for Cuba, where better work was a great possibility. Five years went by before she saw her husband again, Siu Mend.

The family from Spain, their story starts in Cuba. Don Pedro and his wife have a daughter Angela, and Angela has recently inherited her family's feminine curse. The curse of Martinico, an Imp who only appears to the women of the family, or the wife of the first born son. And he does nothing but cause them grief, mischievous as he is. Unfortunately, Martinico is not the only mythical creature that she sees, her family is gifted with the sight to be more sensitive to the supernatural, they see creatures that others can not. With this gift Angela is blessed with the love of a wonderful man, for all of eternity and beyond, but she also makes a deal with the Devil himself.

Africa's Family starts with a mulatto girl named Caridad, a slave on a plantation in Cuba, her mother had gotten pregnant with her on the trip from Africa to Cuba after being kidnapped from her tribe to be sold as a slave. When the girl was a little older, she had been working inside as the mistresses quarters girl, an epidemic swept through the land, killing numbers of people that Caridad couldn't even fathom. She was sent to a vacation home on another part of Cuba, and because she was a mulatto, she was unique, the slave master's wife liked this and kept her for herself. Keeping Caridad out of the hot sun and inside, once again being the house mistresses girl. It was in this home that Caridad fell in love with a boy from another home, another slave, another mulatto. Once they were old enough they were going to buy their way to freedom, and start a family. Happy together, forever. But fate always changes everyone's plan.

This is a story of love, loss, great happiness and great sadness. It's been such a long time since I actually cried reading a book, but this one did it. I actually cried. Some of the things here were so unfair, unjust it made me sick to think what they went through. But the ending more than made up for anything that went bad. I recommend it to all my adult friends. While it does contain anything unfit for children, I believe that only another grown up could appreciate this story.

Ratings: Number 4 and 4 stars

The Island of Eternal Love
Daina Chaviano

Update

I know the post of The Island of Eternal Love, was short and under informing, so I will re write it very soon, I was so tired when I finished it but so excited about how good it was that I had to write something, sorry guys. Also I have decided to join a book club, well I don't know if I'm going to join.. yet. I will be going to the first meeting tomorrow night, we will be discussing Twilight. I will see how it goes from there. Wish me luck :)

Book Review: The Island of Eternal Love

This book was originally published in Spanish in 2206, and translated into English in 2008. I enjoyed this book. It seems by days have been dragging by lately, getting into those dog days of summer I suppose. Being in Louisiana is wretched anyway, and to add the heat on top of it almost makes it unbearable. Usually getting lost in a book takes my mind off just about everything that surrounds me, so I don't even notice that I'm in such a miserable place. But then I go and read a book about Cuba and Miami, go figure.

Cecilia, Ceci, as her friends and grandmother call her, escaped to the United States on a raft, fleeing from Cuba, alongside hundreds of other immigrants taking refuge from the evils within the island. Coming to America was her only real option, but ever since coming here she has been nothing but miserable. Her two best friends drag her out to a bar one night where Ceci meets an old woman, one that begins telling her a story. Being it is so late when they start the story, and the story is a very long tale. Cecilia keeps coming back, she has to know what the woman, Amelia is going to reveal next.

The tale follows the lives of three families in the beginning of Cuba. A Chinese family, a woman who is mulatto, and a original Cuban family. Their lives intermingle throughout their histories, and the story reveals that even though generations separate their paths, they still cross. With mystery, and intrigue. Daina Chaviano brings to life a story that shows us that all the scary stuff from the spirit world can sometimes be sweet and generous and can unite us more than we ever imagined.

I really liked this book, it was sad in a wow, I feel bad for those people, sort of way, and inspiring to see her figure out who she was and finally grasp onto her heritage and become the woman she was supposed to be. I would definitely read this book again sometime. This book is no really YA, it's more of a grown-up book, as in it would probably be appreciated more by people older than 25.

Ratings: Number 3 and 3 stars

The Island of Eternal Love
Daina Chaviano

Book Review: Raised by Wolves.

When I first heard the title of this book, I was honestly a bit skeptical. I mean after all the new books that have come out lately that are YA paranormal, they all have kind of unique titles, so something so basic didn't peek my interest. But like always I can rely on my very trustworthy BFF to come through for me and recommend a book that was a good read.

Bronwyn Alessia St. Vincent Clare, Bryn, was only four years old when she witnessed her parents brutally murdered. And if that wasn't enough to haunt her for the rest of her life, the voice that echoes in the dark recesses of her dreams " Come out, come out, wherever you are, little one. No sense in hiding from the Big Bad Wolf. I'll always find you in the end...". That had been the chant to change Bryn's life for good.

The rogue werewolf that had destroyed her human family was killed before he ever got the chance to kill Bryn. Callum, Stone River's Alpha, took Bryn with him, marked her, and she became his. He gave her to another human, a woman, Alison Clare. She was marked as well, and put in charge as the one who be raising Bryn as a mother, for all intensive purposes. With being Marked Bryn was able to be a part of the Pack, even as a human, but because she was human, she would never really be part of the Pack.

Teenage and quite fond of her rebellious and curious side, she was not in the least bit happy when Callum put a guard ( babysitter, in her opinion ) by her side to escort her wherever she needed to go, and to make absolute certain she was home by dark. No questions asked, and unfortunately none of her questions answered. She had to be on her best behavior, for Ali's sake if nothing else, she was very pregnant, and most Were/human pregnancies didn't turn out for the best,on the human side. Most of them died. So Bryn had to put as little stress as possible on Ali as she could.

When the delivery day comes, Bryn is so distraught, the cries of agony coming from her beloved 'mother' and nothing she can do to help, the only person she knows who can comfort her is Callum. She sneaks away from her guard and makes it to Callum's house. But what's waiting for her there changes her future just as much as Callum did the night he rescued her.

Chase is a boy, Chase is also a Werewolf, but Chase wasn't born a Were, he was made. It's almost impossible for her to comprehend. Only a handful of humans who have been attacked in over a thousand years have actually survived and Changed. Chase did. He isn't stable yet, she smells like meat, he shifts within his cage and lunges for her, trapped inside the bars. She makes her escape and runs right into Callum. Her comfort.

She can't go without seeing him again, she knows that they are connected. They are alike, neither of them born a Were but both are now Pack. And there is something else. A pull. Seeing him again is Bryn's mental undoing. The wolf that killed her family is the same one that Changed Chase. Callum has been lying all these years. No one is safe. She breaks her permissions, she is punished, she weakens one connection to make another one stronger, she is sent away.

Bryn now has to overcome what she fears most, pull forward what she repressed for over ten years, and learn to do things she never consciously knew she was capable of. All out of the sake of love and family.

I really enjoyed this book, I'm normally a team Edward kinda girl, ya know, more into the vampire stuff, but I will read werewolf stuff as well, and with this I'm glad I did. It had a lot of teenage back and forth emotion. But it also shows a lot of exactly what it means to grow up, and become who you are. I would definitely recommend this book to my young adult friends :)


Ratings: Number 3 with 2 stars


Raised by Wolves
Jennifer Lynn Barnes 

Book Review: Breaking Dawn.

So of course after re-reading Eclipse I couldn't stop there, I had to finish out the Saga again. I went on and read Breaking Dawn again. Just like Eclipse, I got sucked in, and couldn't do myself the favor of putting the book down and getting a good night of sleep, it took me all of two days to finish it, and that adding a couple hours, and going grocery shopping during those two days.

One thing that I still have never quite figured out is why so many people have decided that this was their favorite book. Out of the four, Breaking Dawn seems to be the most popular. Does it have something to do with Bella finally becoming immortal? Or is it the wedding? I know a lot of women are in awe about Renesme, could that be what pushes this book to be the best? I just don't know. I mean don't get me wrong I adored it, it was.. er is a great book. But it's not my favorite, I will tell you which one is mine and why in a few minutes. Anyhow, I liked the family in this book, the way it all comes together, at last. After all the bickering and fighting throughout the last three books, finally they are all harmonious, it puts a smile on your face and makes you relax a little, knowing that your favorite vampires and werewolves/ shape shifters are not going to kill each other after all.

This book will also be turned into a movie, actually as I just discovered, it will be turned into two movies, just like they did with final Harry Potter film. The first one is due to be released in November of 2011, that honestly kills me, seeing as Eclipse is being release in two weeks, then I will have to wait practically a year and a half to see my favorite vampires on the big screen again, ugh :) Anyhow, While I was reading Breaking Dawn I was trying to decipher where they will make the cut off point, where are they going to leave us hanging at? I think I have it figured out.

In the first half we are going to get to see Bella and Edward get married, personally I'm not happy there, hehe. no really I am, I just covet Edward in my own absurd daydreams. But after that they go away to their honeymoon to Isle Esme, oh how I wish my husband would buy me and island. Then the pregnancy, and that's where the story will really pick up. Bella getting her butt kicked from the inside out, literally. Edward in agony over what has happened, and none of them knowing what to do. Rosalie and Bella protecting the baby with every ounce of their souls, and no matter what anyone thinks, I don't believe for one second that after this Rosalie would throw Bella's life away, I think she is not only protecting the baby but Bella as well.

Then the baby is delivered, and you would think with all the preparation that it would be Carlisle, but nope, it's Edward and Jacob in the end, in the delivery/ operating room. Successful delivery, Bella dies. THE END. That is what I think is going to happen in the first movie. The second is going to consist of them turning Bella into and immortal, seeing Renesme for the first time, being warned of the Volturi, the coming together of the covens and the face off to save their family. and then we will be left in the wake of what was the Twilight generation. It will be a sad time for all of us who are fans, and feel like we are part of it.

now to tell you my favorite book of the four and why. New Moon. I loved it because of the strength of their love, even though he left, and she hurt for so long, and he hurt for so long. We he thought she died, he wanted to die, there was no reason for his existence if she didn't exist. And in the end he came back. He realized that he couldn't be apart form her. I know the extreme measures that it took for him to wise up and realize is was a bit .. well extreme, but hey, no one ever said men were the brightest, even a hundred year old vampire man. That book got me because of their long, and how even though it was tested to it's limit, it stayed strong. It was impenetrable.

Ratings: Number 4 with 3 stars

Breaking Dawn
The Twilight Saga
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Eclipse.

So I re-read this book to refresh my memory, with the upcoming release of the movie at the end of this month. I originally read it in 2007 when it was first released, yes I was a huge Twilight fan. Still am, just not as much as I was then. When I first decided to re-read this book I thought that it might not attract me the same way it did the first time. The first time I read it, it was like a black hole, it sucked me in, I read the entire book in about 13 hours, I was more than a little disappointed when I was finished with it, it was all consuming. The second time around made absolutely little difference, even though it has been three years. From the very first sentence it had me again. I paced myself this time, taking a day and a half to read it. This time thinking about things as I read it. Discovering things I rushed through the first time, and finding out I loved this book so much more the second time.

Now after saying this, I realized that I have learned a few things about the main character Bella. She is a total masochist. She enjoys the pain that comes along with the pleasure of being in love with two men. Er, ok maybe enjoys is not the right word but she rather wishes for the pain that she is subjecting them to, just so that she can keep both men in her life. She maybe selfless in many ways, always wanting to sacrifice herself for the good of others, and always worrying about how something she does may effect someone else, but in this sense no, she is completely selfish.

The movie to this book will be hitting theaters on June 30th this year. I, for one, am SUPER excited about that, I can't wait to see it. My husband will be taking me and we will be having a great time. For any girl who is having a hard time convincing her guy to take her to see this movie, explain to him that this is the one, out of the five movies that will be made total, that he SHOULD see. This is the one with the guy stuff in it. It's going to have fast cars ( remember the yellow Porche from New Moon? yeah it's back ), gory details of blood and carnage from the battle of the newborns and the Cullens.. and the Wolves, God knows we can't forget them :) There is also the CONSTANT ego/ pride thing between Edward and Jacob throughout this entire movie, and the Volturi make an appearance. The guys will love this movie, though not as much as us girls.

With all this being said, I know it's not much of a book review, just like my next one on Breaking Dawn probably won't be, but that's because there is nothing else to say about these books that hasn't already been said. Stephanie Meyer did and amazing job of letting us into this world of Vampire and Human love. She put us inside the homes, and out there on the front lines. I was captivated from beginning to end, and am amazed over and over again at exactly how great these books actually are. If you haven't read them yet, do yourself a favor, read them. Oh and don't be like some of those irritating critics out there who only read them so they can demolish them JUST because they are popular. Yes vampire and other supernatural stuff is the ' cool' thing right now, but even with that, there are hundreds of books out there pertaining to just these types of topics, and not many have had this kind of success. So when you read them, do it with respect for the book, and judge it as you would any other.

Ratings: Number 4 with 3 stars

GO TEAM EDWARD!!!!!!

Eclipse
The Twilight Saga
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Spirit Bound

So to start off I'm going to tell you that when they say that the first book in a series is always the best and blah blah blah.. they are usually WRONG with capitol W. One thing I have learned about books over the years is that if it's a series, it usually gets BETTER after the first book, the deeper into the plot you go, the juicier the story gets. And my theory didn't fail me with The Vampire Academy series, not at all.

After reading the first couple I had deemed them basic young adult, high school reads. No biggie, just the norm for what was popular now days. Vampire love, fatal attraction, all that good stuff. Then after moving onto the third and fourth books, Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise, my opinion altered. These were no longer mundane reading. They were getting good, it seemed to me that the actual writing improved, not just the story. They became more involved, more detailed, and more realistic. I like a book that I can picture in my mind, without having to add much of my own to it, I like the story painted for me, like a movie screen in my head. The third and fourth book did that for me, the first and second did as well, but the third and fourth definitely kicked it in gear.

Now I pick up the fifth book, Spirit Bound. Holy cow am I completely blown away or what??!! This book has me reeling by the end of it, and to think I have to wait all the way until December of this year for the final installment of this series, Last Sacrifice, to reach the public, argg.. just imagine my frustration if you will.

The story follows Rose, Lissa, Christian, and Adrian through graduation and onto Court, where they will now be given their official assignments as guardians, and Lissa will be attending college and Adrian.. well he will be doing whatever it is he decides to do. But of course Rose still has big problems, one being especially now out in the ' real ' world, Dimitri. Dimitri, the one man she has ever loved. The one that she also lost, he died.. but didn't, he turned strigoi, the undead vamps. He had captured her in Russia, gave her the choice to become what he is, so that they could still be together, but she didn't do it, she escaped, and with doing that she also lost him again. This time for good, now he was hunting her, now he would kill her. Unless the could possibly find out if a rumor about spirit powers were true, and if it was, if they could use it to their advantage, and if so if Dimitri would agree. But before they can finish their plan, the unthinkable happens, and they are forced to rush ahead of schedule. Sometimes working under pressure wields tremendous results, and they came out on top, for the most part, Rose will still walk away with a broken heart.

When you might think that this is a huge thing to happen in the book, and it is, believe me, it's not the biggest thing... I'm not going to spoil anymore of it for you, but the last few chapters blew my mind, they were absolutely amazing, and completely came out of the blue. Never would I have imagined that was where this story was going to go, but I am so glad it did, the anticipation for the next book is killing me already.

Ratings: Number 4 with 3 stars

Spirit Bound
Vampire Academy Series
Richelle Mead

Book Review: The Short Second life of Bree Tanner

So I just finished this book about twenty minutes ago, err should I say e-book. Yes, I've succumbed to technology, I read a book online. I would have went out and purchased the book but it was offered to us fans to read for free on Stephanie Meyer's website. So since it was FREE how could I ever pass it up??!!

Anyhow, when the title of this book said ' Short ' I didn't take it as too literal, as in this would be a ' short ' story. But it was. Now saying that, it was still a good book. It was just as good as the Twilight Saga, well not as good, but the way it was written was just as good. I enjoyed the story. Even though Bree was only a few months old when we entered her life in this story, I would have liked to know more about those few months in which she first became a vamp. Like how she discovered that Fred equaled protection, and why Fred decided that she was ok, not a threat like the rest of her coven. Also I would have liked to know more about her ' change ' and the circumstances that surrounded it. From what I gathered, she was a homeless fifteen year old girl who was starving to death and Riley came in and took her to a burger joint, then kidnapped her and took her to Victoria to become a new vamp. But other than that... I got nothing.

I did however enjoy the loved and lost aspect of the bittersweet moments she had with Diego. How sweet to find love, even after you're dead. But how sad to lose it. At least she didn't have to pine her whole life away like most the other heroines we hear about these days, over a love that was lost, because shortly after she realized that her precious Diego had perished, she joined him in the Great Beyond. If that's where the already dead people go when they die again.

http://ld-breetannerbook.libredigital.com/index.html

Ratings: Number 3 with 2 stars

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Stephanie Meyer

Book Review: Girls of Riyadh.

How should I start this book review, ah the many things that swam through my mind while reading this was pure amazing. First of all, in America, if this book was written by an American, about what teenage and young adult girls ' in America ' do, it probably would have never made it out of someones rejection pile of books sent to them daily. The sheer fact that this was not from America but from the Eastern world, the world we romanticize women as either possessions or terrorists, places this book into a whole other category all together.

Girls of Riyadh was originally written as emails sent throughout the Arabic world anonymously, they tell the story of four girls who grew up in the ' velvet society ' of Riyadh. If this had been a story about four boys or men growing up, no one would have even blinked an eye, but it wasn't, it was about four girls, then women. This of course started a huge uproar. No one writes about the secret ongoings of what women in this country do. No one knows what happens in their private affairs, and the worst part is no one knows what these women feel.

Reading this book, made me look at some of those women in a whole new light, they are no different than you in me, emotionally. They want to love a man worthy of love, and want to be loved by a man who she deserves. They want a happy home, with children and comfort. They do not want to be these stupid slave wives that have walked the streets for generations before them. But they also do not want to wait for this love to never come along and they end u being spinsters.

This book told the tale of these four girls, and what love filled their hearts and what heartbreak befouled them. It showed their strength in friendship, and their weakness in knowledge of life matters. The courage these girls possessed and what blind faith drove them at times, oh how I loved this book. There were times when reading this and a man in the story had done something vile towards one of the women, and my poor husband got the rotten end of that, for I was so mad at Rashid ( Gamrah's husband ) that I yelled at my own husband. It just wasn't fair for her to be treated that way.

This book made me feel more powerful as a woman, knowing what these women have to deal with, and all the losses they suffer, yet they still go on. I know that if they can do then so can I. I may not be suffering the way they have and possibly still are, but I still deal with crap on a daily basis, and yet I will persevere :)

Ratings: Number 4 with 4 stars

Girls of Riyadh
Rajaa Alsanea

Book Review: The Heroines

This book tickled me. It was a very cute book. On a prairie in Illinois a woman and her daughter live in a family owned bed and breakfast. It's cozy for the two of them, thirteen year old Penny and her mother Anne-Marie, Penny's father was killed in a car accident when she was younger.. that's what she was told.

The best thing about this bed and breakfast isn't the quiet seclusion of the prairie, or the interesting stories that the travelers share, it's the stories that some of the travelers come from. They have had guests in their home for as long as Penny can remember, guests with extremely familiar names. Madame Bovary has a short stay at Prairie Homestead, even Scarlett O'Hara stay a night. But with Penny being only thirteen now, the magic of these visits has not yet began to sink in, she is too upset that these heroines from story land get all her mother's attention, while she has to deal with things herself. When Deirdre, from Deirdre of the Sorrows, checks in, then moves into her room, which causes Penny to move out of her own room. Penny hits the fan, enough is enough.

Mother always told her to stay out of the woods at night, dangerous things dwell there, Penny didn't care anymore, she was mad. But when hoof beats were behind her and she was running scared out of her wits, oh how she wished she had listened to her mother. Conor, King of Ulster, Lord of the Red Branch,the Twinkling Hoard, the Ruddy Branch, has now come into the picture. He is a Hero, or possibly a villain, Penny hasn't decided yet. Heroes never come, only the Heroines, the women or girls come, mainly during their most trying times in the story, and they rest, they stay a day, a week, a month, but they always go back and finish their story, alone. But here is a Hero, come to capture his Heroine. Penny doesn't know what she should do, her mother has ingrained in her from the very beginning, NEVER meddled with the Heroines destines, but Penny knows what she is going to do, hand over Deirdre.

After being gone so long and worrying her mother, her mother calls the police, the police take her to the hospital, after an exam, the doctors ask what happened, poor Penny who is only thirteen revels the truth, and is locked in a loony bin. After being drugged up and being subjected to real crazies, she manages a call to Albie, her one real life friend, her gets news to Conor.

Even though never before has her mother meddled in a Heroines story, this time she just might, after all it is her daughter who is out there in the world somewhere, with this Hero, all she has to do is hand over Deirdre.

I loved this story!!!

Ratings: Number 3 with 2 stars

The Heroines
Eileen Favorite

Book Review: Dawn of the Dreadfuls.

This is the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies written by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen. It's set four years ahead of the romance between Mr. Bingly, Mr. Darcy, and the Bennett girl. While this book says 'Dawn' of the dreadfuls, it unfortunately is not set at the beginning of the outbreak of the terrible zombies that plague all of the English countryside, for that matter all of England itself. This story tells us of how the Bennett Family.. err, the Bennett daughters got involved in the battle with the undead, and how they became esteemed as warriors. I enjoyed the book for it's storyline, it was a good read, but if you were reading it so you could go along with the rest of the story of the unmentionables, as I was, you would sorely be disappointed. The story changes some things that shouldn't be changed, such as the girls training. In P&P&Z, the girls had had devout training by a china man, and were taught to be very disciplined in the deadly arts. In this book however, they were taught by a Japanese man who was not entirely loyal to his warrior ways, as he falls in love, but then is revealed as a coward. Also in the first book, the younger sisters never did take their training as serious as they did in finding a husband, but in this book they took them in both the same stride. To say the least I was disappointed in the way the story was changed and in the waste of money I spent purchasing the book in the first place.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
Steve Hockensmith

Book Review: His Dark Materials, Trilogy

As always, I could have written the review when I finished the first book, but for some reason I just can't seem to make myself do that. I always have to wait until the story concludes.. or at least all the books in that series that have been published are read, before I write about them. When I first picked up The Golden Compass, I had no idea it was part of a trilogy, I had heard of the movie from a few years ago, and I have seen bits and pieces of that movie, honestly the only thing that really interested me was the controversy that surrounded it, apparently 'the Church' disliked this book, alot.

After do some searching and starting the series, I couldn't get enough. It started with The Golden Compass, in which Lyra, a young girl in Oxford, has made a strange discovery and then starts out on an even stranger journey. Lyra being raised by scholars since her parents death as a young child, all she has ever known is inside the walls of Jordan College. Now with Ms. Coulter coming to help Lyra grow and mature into a young woman, Lyra is taken to places she never even imagined could exist.

Discovering things that she should never know, and then running away and joining up with the gyptians, Lyra is thrust into her destiny. One that she must fulfill, but one that must never be revealed to her. Trying to rescue her dear friend and being kidnapped herself, Lyra escapes and is taken even further away. Once Lyra enters a new world and the next book The Subtle Knife begins, Lyra has learned much about her world and all the other worlds that she never knew existed, but she still has so much to learn. Her father, Lord Asriel, and Her mother, Ms. Coulter are both after Dust, they want to both destroy it and harness it at the same time. Lyra is just the tool they need to complete their work, however, they are not working together, they are very very much on the opposite sides of the coming war. Ms. Coulter is with the Church, and once they discover exactly who Lyra is and what her destiny involves they set out at once to destroy the child, killing her is the only way to stop her, to stop original sin.

Lyra meets Will and together with Lyra's Daemon, Pan, they continue her journey, take more risks and traveling through more worlds. Winning the ownership, if you can call it that, of the Subtle Knife, through battle, Will now has the power to travel to a fro throughout the worlds, any world, he wishes. Together Lyra and Will survive some amazing challenges and life threatening feats. In the third and final book, The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will enter the world of the dead, even though they are very much alive. They set out on a quest to speak with some recently deceased people they knew, some that they need answers from, and they end up fulfilling one part of Lyra's destiny, without her ever knowing. Coming back into the world of the living brings the into the direct line of fire and a war wages. Lord Asriel has called all the forces he could gather, including all the angels who rebelled from the Kingdom of Heaven centuries ago, to fight against the Athority, God, himself. To put an end to evil, and bring about a new world where everyone could live together, demolishing the Church. Cutting through the worlds in order to find safety, Will and Lyra find themselves in the welcome company of the Mulfa and Dr. Mary Malone, who is trying to find out where the Dust is going, and why things in the world are dying without cause.


Lyra's destiny comes to a head as everyone, but her realizes that she is the one to save Dust. How she will manage it, no one knows, but she will be tempted. But Will never leaves her side. Not until he has to.

I really enjoyed these books, I was very upset that Lyra and Will couldn't be together in the end, but that's how it goes sometimes. Other than that I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys history, fiction, and fantasy. Oh I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone who takes fiction seriously, like the 'Church'.

His Dark Materials Trilogy
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
Philip Pullman