Long week... short week...

It's strange to be awake this early in the morning. In fact, it's been strange for me to actually be living normal people hours this entire week. Sleeping around midnight and waking up six hours later in the A.M. rather than sleeping during the day and being awake most of the nighttime.

I can say that I am definitely NOT looking forward to being back at work in a few days. Vacation (or in my case, a "stay-cation") doesn't really help a third-shifter at all. In a few days, I'm going to have to rearrange my sleeping schedule again. I don't want to do that!

It feels like it's been a long week, and yet it's been a really short week at the same time. Well, if that makes any sense. I'm ready for work, but I'm not ready for work; and then I really just want to get my regular schedule back in line.

In a way, I just feel exhausted even though it's been a rather productive week.

Am I making any sense at all? It must be that I'm a bit disoriented from being awake at 10:00 A.M. because it's usually unheard of.

***

那麼就醒有一點點奇怪。 其實這個禮拜就是很奇怪，因為倒是跟其他人一樣。 夜晚零時誰，六個鐘後起床；不是早上睡眠，夜晚醒。

我可以說，不是很想回到工作。 在家度假不是對夜班工作有幫助。 在過幾天要該睡覺地時間。 我不要!

這個禮拜很長，也有好似很短一樣。 好像說不通媽？ 我準備上班，但是也不是很準備的；其所，我只是想回返原本的作息時間。

可以說，雖然這個禮拜做的很多，但是我只是真的很累很累。

說的通不通媽？ 或者我好亂。

And now... we're probably not quite back, but what're ya gonna do?

I can't believe it's been about... well, almost a year since the last time I wrote something more personal than what I like to read. It looks like I managed to turn my blog into a book blog for a good part of the year. And then we tanked. I pretty much have accepted that I won't be finishing my Reading Challenge and that I should have stayed at 20 books to make my goal possible. I could probably go and change my goal, but that would be cheating and I don't like cheating when it comes to books.

Blogging really has been the last thing on my mind lately. Basically, there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that I want to do each and every day. There's work (8 hours) and there's sleep (6 to 8 hours on good days). That leaves approximately 8 hours to get other things done... or so one would think. I now also take approximately 1 and a half hours spent at the gym to reach a very long drawn out goal. Then there's driving which takes about twenty minutes in one direction and another twenty minutes in the other direction. Half an hour in the shower, an hour winding down before I go to sleep and an hour slacking off before work starts up at night.

So in the end, I'm left with approximately 4 hours to spend my day (on work nights). I hate to look at my days in terms of time and hours, but that's just the way that America is structured anyway. Every single moment of your life is based on how much time you have to get from Point A to Point B, how much time you spend at Point B before you must return to Point A, and then how much more time you spend at Point A before having to move on to Point B again. In between, you calculate how much time you have to spend doing other chores or leisurely activities. You need to take half an hour or so to do the laundry, cook dinner, wash the dishes and take out the trash. You need to take a little more time if there are other things to accomplish: vacuum, finish the laundry, grocery shopping. And then maybe you have an hour or two to either relax and watch an episode of a series you're following, or just to chill around with your family and have idle chit-chat.

Or maybe you're like me and you're devoting an hour-ish of your extra time to doing some personal studying. I'm currently teaching myself Japanese and have been in the process of learning for about a month now. I'm not good at it, but I can break down a sentence and tell you what it says in my own way -- it'll just take some time. I'm also devoting some random moments here and there to improve upon my Chinese reading and writing skills -- I mean, really, just being able to converse in my native tongue is just not good enough for me and I feel like I should have learned how to read and write in Chinese ages ago.

So I guess unlike the last couple times I've posted a blog article, I actually have a lot more going on in my life than I give credit for. I mean, life still feels monotonous, but it's not like I'm not being productive. Take, for instance, my newest improvement: the regular gym-going routine. It's a miracle that I can even make it to the gym before my brain kicks in with laziness and I decide to go home instead cause I'm "just too tired for the gym this morning." It's a BIG feat for me to knock that thought out and subconsciously make myself drive straight to the gym anyway. And once I'm there, a work-out is pretty much cemented.

Now I'm not hardcore or anything when it comes to working out. I've tried that before where I force myself to work out until I collapse. And you know what ends up happening? I quit going to the gym for about three months before I feel guilty about being a lazy slacker and start up again only to recycle the same process. So I pretty much made a deal with myself where I wouldn't kill myself. If I feel like I've had enough, then I've had enough, because some activity is better than no activity. With that thought in mind, I've been able to slowly build my endurance and create a routine where NOW I can try to kill myself working out and not feel burdened by it.

For instance, today I did my usual cardio work-out followed by some questionable ab work-out that I may need to consult a trainer about, then I went and lifted for three sets of fifteen. Then I followed through with an intense Zumba class (which was tons of fun now that I can actually keep up pretty well).

I'm on a roll, so I intend to keep up this roll for as long as I'm motivated, which I really, REALLY hope is a long time to come.

Just this morning, getting out of the shower, I've decided to create a new, long term goal and to modify my current goal a little bit. Having it written down, however, I hope doesn't kill the foundation I've been building for the last two months (because a vacation and my period almost did it).

Long term goal: By this time next year, I will be my ideal weight and size. What that is, I don't know yet, but we'll figure it out as we go.

Short term goal: By the end of the year, I will hopefully be twenty pounds lighter and five inches thinner in the waist. I'm shooting for twenty pounds, but in reality, with only two months left to go, I'm pretty sure I'll only make it to fifteen pounds less than what I started at two months ago... mostly because some serious slacking and a vacation had only given me leeway to losing approximately seven pounds since I first made my commitment.

Maybe by some miracle there'll be some sort of strange logarithmic increase in the number of pounds I'm losing in the next few weeks to come and I'll reach my goal... and then some. But I'm not banking on it. I'm a realist and we need to stay within the reality scope of things.

Anyway... for having not written in so long, I guess I still have it in me to ramble on endlessly about things that probably no one else cares about. Ahhh.... the beauty of having a personal blog that no one really reads.

To end off my post, here's a little bit of my own achievement to boost up my spirits:

私の目的を見失わない. 頑張ります! I won't lose sight of my goal. I'll work hard!
(I hope I wrote that correctly. More than likely, it's wrong, but I didn't have any examples to work off of...)

Just in case, anyone out there who is interested in learning Japanese with me, has interest in learning Chinese with me, or is really good at either of the two languages (written, spoken, whatever) let me know. I could use a study buddy since my only other source (the little brother) is busy with school.

JYJ - "Empty" LIVE

JYJ - "Ayyy Girl" LIVE

Yes.  I had to share.  For the most part, yes I know that the English enunciation isn't the best, but the music and the voices and the harmony...  I love these guys.  For the most part, the conveyance that they put into their music trumps any language barrier, honestly.  For non-English speakers to be able to sing, not just one entire song, but several songs completely in English -- I think they deserve a lot of commendation.  English is NOT the easiest language to learn (and I was born and raised in America).  Okay, well, it's not a hard language to learn either, but for people who speak a language that comes from a different root, English isn't easy to learn.

Anyway, excuse me while I continue to fan-girl and squee................

Review: Princess Academy

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



So my attempt at blogging by chapter (or even batched chapters) kind of fell through. But just as the first time I read it, I really enjoyed reading Princess Academy for the second time. For now, I haven't quite decided on how I want to review this piece, so for now, I'll leave it with my chosen rating as well as a high recommendation to anyone who likes young adult, fairy tale-esque stories with a spunky little female lead. For those of us who are already Shannon Hale fans, well, I don't need to say much -- she is just so good at creating an entire culture of people in her books without simply turning them into background that speeds by. I love that in Princess Academy, you know only follow Miri's plight, but you also get to know everyone else around her as well.

I will try to collect my thoughts and maybe write a proper review, but I know I'll probably just leave it at this.

And now I'm looking forward (and ready) for the next book in this line: Palace of Stone!



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Thoughts on: Princess Academy, Chapter 1

"Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat."

To follow Shannon Hale's Squeetus summer book club for Princess Academy, here is the blog post for the first chapter she discusses:
Squeetus summer book club: Princess Academy, chapter 1

There was something about the visual from that very first sentence that made me like the book immediately. And the visuals continue with all the detailed descriptions throughout, describing the home that Miri lives in, the rest of the mountain, as well as the people living on the mountain.

One thing that I love about Shannon Hale's prose is her attention to detail (and lots of it) that let you see what's unfolding rather than just being told about action by one of the characters. The descriptions and analogies are awesome, and I only wish my vocabulary were that good.

The chapter begins with a narration describing life on Mount Eskel, a typical day, as well as diving into Miri's own personal belittle-ments (I know that's not a word, but whatever). The people of the mountain mine Linder for a living and almost everyone takes part in this work. Miri yearns to join her father and the rest of Mount Eskel in the quarry for this important work, but for her whole life, has been denied the opportunity. And because of this, she has always felt small and worthless (talk about a belittling complex).

We get a lot of visualizations of the beauty that is Miri's home village, from the quarry to the homes, and even the surrounding scenery. We meet a lot of the village girls immediately (also with strong visual descriptions unique to each girl) and then we even get to learn about Quarry Speech.

The chapter right away leads us into the main plot device of the book after giving a rather smooth, quick introductory of Mount Eskel and its people. We even get to meet Peder Doterson, a young boy who would be Miri's love interest, as we note the descriptions of how Miri feels those changes taking place like a school girl and her first crush. Of course, this side romance is set aside for later when the Princess Academy is formed and Miri, as well as all the young girls aged twelve to seventeen, will be taken to the Princess Academy to prepare for the Prince's decision.

Not being able to see each other all the time equals: no main romance. But for this particular plot device, it works even for a hopeless romantic like me.

I don't really have much to say about the first chapter that I didn't already say. It's very well paced and I am forever in love with Shannon Hale's prose and style. Of course, at times the dialogue reminds me that this book was written in the form of a fairy tale since a lot of the speech seems too formal and too unnatural to be "the way people actually talk." This isn't a book based on modern day society after all, so it's appropriate; it's more of an historical fairy tale type of book.

The humor, however, could be very easily lost on a lot of people. I, personally, am a person of dry sarcasm or smack-in-the-face simple humor. When you create a character who likes to make people laugh, the most difficult task is making sure that what this person says and does actually comes across as funny. Unfortunately, not everyone finds the same things humorous; and while silly stories about Bena's grandfather smashing a fly against his mouth and leaving it there might sound strange and cute, it may only elicit a laugh from few.

I like to think that, sometimes, when the character isn't purposefully trying to be funny... that's when the hilarity ensues. It's a natural humor that only seems funny because of the seriousness of the situation attached to a single sentence or moment that just stands out like a tickle.

For instance: In Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days there is one particular scene that had me chuckling. Dashti is fretting about the entirety of the situation wherein she and her lady are stuck in a tower with a depleting supply of food because now there are rats creating havoc. On top of that, Dashti has decided that escaping the tower and facing the guards who may no longer be present again is better than facing a starving death. And so in her writing she denotes the following:

Day 920 

[...] Just now, rat meat sounds as tasty as winter antelope. 

Day 921 

Rat meat is not tasty.

What really got me about this particular entry was simply the way it was expressed. You have one day where she is exclaiming that rat meat sounds tasty and the very next beat (the next day) she confirms that rat meat is definitely NOT a delicacy. Maybe the entire context of the situation needs to be read to get the humor. I don't know; call me strange, but I found it funny as I also find a lot of Dashti's narration entertaining and humorous at all the right places. For the most part, it's because she is stuck in such a dire situation, but still has time to be sardonic about it.

But anyway, I digress...

As I already mentioned, the biggest factor of a Shannon Hale book that won my heart has always been her attention to detail and her smooth descriptions. The details, even the littlest of details, shows a reader that this author is indeed paying attention to the characters, setting, and culture she's created to go along with the story. It's not just the story line propelling the characters and the reader along, it's the little things that make you forget that you're reading a fictional telling of a bunch of characters "doing whatever the author has decreed." In Shannon Hale's case, her characters are typically living the stories to completion rather than just being dragged along for the ride.

First chapters are hard to write; if not done properly, it doesn't give the reader that hook that's necessary to continue on. While a lot of us have patience to give the book at least three or four chapters before dooming it, others don't have that kind of time. And so in terms of a first chapter scale which managed great introductory as well as plot progression and descriptive story telling, I would give Shannon Hale a rather high score. The first chapter isn't an immediate hook, but it doesn't drag on the set-up and is written beautifully.

****

The rest of my book blogging about Princess Academy will not necessarily be a chapter at a time, dependent on my mood and convenience. I'm probably going to try to read and enjoy it normally (and slowly) but I won't be blogging everyday just for the sake of blogging. I'll probably end up batching up a few chapters at a time every Monday or something like that (whatever works my fancy).

Thoughts on Princess Academy, by the chapter

I don't really fancy myself a book blogger. In fact, even with my other blog (which is on a bit of hiatus, sadly) I still don't think of myself as a professional review blogger. Everything that comes out just ends up being my own personal opinions, packaged in as nicely a format as I can manage.

And that's that.

For some back story...

I first picked up Princess Academy about three, maybe four years ago at a local Target. My best friend and I love to roam around the store at random moments and look at things that we won't be buying. We peruse DVDs, CDs, books, magazines, and different household items with our own color commentary about who uses this stuff, what use it would become if we bought it, and whether or not it would rate high in our own consumer ratings. With DVDs we would tell each other what kind of movies are good and which ones we have seen and which ones we want to see.

It happens like this a often and repetitively, but it was a nice, lazy way of wasting away the rest of the evening after dinner.

And then sometimes we end up in the book aisle and silently walk around.

I'm a book nerd (as everyone probably has guessed). Whenever you lead me into a book section of a store, it could be at least thirty minutes to the hour before I'm willing to walk away. If you take me to an actual book store, be prepared to spend four to five hours just looking at books with me while I decide what I want to buy and what I know I should spend money on. (Of course, some things have changed now that e-books are the big trend and I can very easily look up a book I want and buy it with a simple push of a button. SO DANGEROUS for my book addiction.)

Anyway, I came across Princess Academy at Target and couldn't help but be drawn to it in every way that makes you know you want to buy that book, on the spot. First off, the cover was pretty attractive, even if quite simple. Its perfect as a young adult, fairy-tale-esque type of story book. Next, the title was just interesting the moment I read it: "Princess Academy. Now that just screams all sorts of adventurous fun with a large group of characters and a learning experience." If you know me well, you know that I'm particularly keen on story lines that boast a sort of "youth group get together" feel. Multiple characters of the same young age living together in a boarding school-like plot device makes for some of the most colorful, entertaining, fun character interactions. (Case in point: Harry Potter was one of my more favorite fictional world settings.)

If it's one thing about a story that draws me in, it's the character interactions. I'm a firm believer that in order to bring characters to life, you must allow the characters to propel the story in their own way, not let the story itself dictate how the character's life will end up. It's sort of a foil to the "Writer is God" idea.

But then again, I' man amateur writer at best, so what do I know?

Coming back to Princess Academy, the final factor that had me excited about the story, was, of course, the overall summary. And this is where the excitement of this adventure begins a new chapter for me.

***

A few months ago, I came across the announcement of Shannon Hale's newest book, Palace of Stone, hailed as the sequel to Princess Academy. Immediately, I was drawn to it. While Princess Academy might not be my favorite Shannon Hale book (Book of a Thousand Days is my favorite), it is still a beloved Shannon Hale read that I really enjoyed. In fact, Princess Academy is the first Shannon Hale book that I laid my hands on, so it's got its own memorable value.

So I'm excited for the new sequel to be release in August (among many other things) and with the upcoming release, I came across a proposed Princess Academy book club activity from Shannon Hale's blog. Each day in July, she will read one chapter of Princess Academy and do an "author's commentary" for all of her reader fans to follow along with.

And I thought to myself, "I had planned on rereading Princess Academy to prepare myself for Palace of Stone's release anyway." And since I wasn't sure how I'd incorporate Princess Academy into my slightly hectic book and drama series itinerary, this was actually a really good proposal. I could follow along, read a chapter at a time (maybe two or three), and slowly have the entire book re-read by the time its sequel is released. At the same time, it doesn't cut into any other books I'm reading, AND I can take a little time out of my day to give a quick summary slash opinion of what I'm thinking.

I've already read the first chapter, but since Ms. Shannon Hale won't be starting her part until tomorrow, July 2, I might give it until tomorrow to post my first set of thoughts on Chapter 1, just so I have time to collect my own thoughts and do a comparison.

***

In other news, my work days are getting quite chaotic (with overtime and my trying to figure out when to sleep since I'm trying to include a routine work-out schedule as well). There are also some family issues happening, involving my grandmother, a total knee replacement, and lots of family visitation.

Finally, one of my best friends will be arriving in town this week for a few days and so there are more things I'm looking forward to as well as some things I'm not too keen on.

I'm keeping myself excited and preoccupied with the two leisurely activities I love the most: reading books and watching Asian drama series. I'm keeping myself updated on what new books will be released when and what new Asian drama series and/or movies will be accessible soon.

Other than that, life has been pretty monotonous, but at the same time, peaceful and fulfilling.

Review: The Angel Experiment

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I guess being a popularly loved book doesn't necessarily make it a fantastic read. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it, but to be totally honest, there were a LOT of points throughout that I found myself wanting to find something else to do. In fact, when I finally hit the halfway point, I began to look forward to the ending. And when I consistently checked my progress to see how much further I had until the I could stop reading this book, I realized that the first Maximum Ride book was just NOT capturing my attention at all.

Sure, it was a fast-paced and simple read. I kept at it because there was always that lingering feeling of, "Something seems like it's about to get exciting." But nothing ever really happened. The first 75% of the book focused a little too much on the kids running and escaping and getting chased and running away and fighting Erasers (or getting shoved around by them) and mostly... well, did I mention running away? Okay, so there was that first story arc wherein the youngest of the Flock gets kidnapped and we must go and rescue her -- but even with that, it seemed extremely bland. On top of that "rescue Angel" story arc, each of the rest of the kids kept going into their own little tangents for about two milliseconds and so we spent a lot more time travelling to rescue Angel than we should have. After that, it just kept getting less and less exciting (much less than it had even originally been).

When something finally started coming into focus for the central conflict (aside from running away and escaping) I had gotten a little excited. But then that excitement ebbed pretty quickly and I really just wanted to know when the book would end.

Honestly, the story line isn't a bad one and there is so much potential and future fun to be had with the rest of Maximum Ride and her adventures with the Flock. But somehow, as it had taken so long to even get the central conflict underway, with so much dragged out "running away" and "being beat up" and the like that I'm not sure I'm even really looking forward to the pacing of the second book. I'm curious to see where the rest of the story is headed. I was ecstatic about reading Maximum Ride because of the concept. But there's just too much filler material that could have been cut out completely and STILL the story would have taken off just fine.

I will wait out the next book, but much like for Witch and Wizard, I'm in no hurry to get there. In an uncalled for comparison, I actually found Witch and Wizard much more appealing than Maximum Ride. At the very least, the story progressed very quickly and the humor was a lot more well-received in the former. In Maximum Ride, these kids get to being sarcastic, but it's the type that just makes you roll your eyes rather than laugh out loud (unlike in Witch and Wizard where I found myself chortling and chuckling so many times).



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Review: The Fairy Godmother

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Short and simple:

The beginning of the book was a little hard to get into; the entirety of Elena's apprenticeship, while quite interesting, seemed to drag a lot if only because I feel like I'm reading a textbook version of "The Fae World of the Five Hundred Kingdoms" rather than experiencing this strange new world through the protagonist's eyes. Possibly, since Elena is such a book worm and logical thinker, everything that we see through her eyes are described just as technically as she perceives it. Unfortunately, while Elena is a witty and creative individual making use of her logic and knowledge, her technicalities end up causing the narration to be a little more boring that it could have been.

I've never read anything else by Mercedes Lackey, but I know she's a bit of a name in the fantasy genre, which shows in her prose and style. It just seems that nothing quite exciting really ends up happening in the story that makes it so that you "just can't wait" to pick the book back up and keep reading. (For instance: I fell asleep at least twice while reading certain parts near the beginning. I fell asleep once near the end, but that was more on my own exhaustion than due to the book's pacing since I direly wanted to finish those last two chapters just to see the conclusion of the last conflict and the entire Godmother Elena story.)

One thing I DID enjoy about this book was the world's set up as well as the magic system. Very rarely do we see any standard, unique magic systems in a lot of fantasy books anymore (although I really shouldn't make that assumption since I haven't even chipped the block of fantasy novels on my bookshelf, but whatever). I liked the entire deal with The Tradition, even if it really just feels like a fancy, more fairy tale fun way of talking about Fate with it's own twisted logic and predictable paths. I liked that Elena was a competent Godmother from day one as the apprentice, and I truly started becoming more interested in the book when Elena was finally named Godmother after her apprenticeship ended. If I had to pin point it, I'd say that that entire first half of the book detailing the Godmother apprenticeship was "just story board set up material" which would make it an extremely long way to set up the rest of the world and the story. Because for the most part, nothing really effected Elena much until after she finally became the Godmother following Madame Bella's "reign" (if that's what we can call it since Godmother's essentially are like "gods" lording over other people's lives, even IF their meddling helps to propel The Tradition that could lead to happy endings).

I will continue on with the next book in The Five Hundred Kingdoms series, if only because I've grown fond of the world that was established all too well in this first book. The fact that each book seems to begin a new story for a new protagonist is also something I look forward to experiencing. This book wasn't entirely the best, but I would point out that it isn't at all disappointing once you get into it.



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Review: Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This particular review will be short and sweet since I don't have much to say about it outside of the fact that I'm really impressed. To backtrack, when I first finished reading Divergent (book 1), I did not anticipate the following book as much as others might have. Divergent had a good story line, a good premise, great characters, good set-up, and some nice intensity to set up its dystopian grandeur to rival the Hunger Games world. But the execution of the story line was a little stifled and unbalanced. Divergent started off with a slight drag as it spent a lot of time building up the Dauntless initiation phase as well as Tris's growth from abandoning her previous faction and finding a place in her new faction. While it was all fun and enjoyable, it wasn't as emotionally rewarding as the Hunger Games fast-paced telling had been. But then we get into the latter half of Divergent and everything suddenly picks up speed and we feel rushed to find a good resolution to the first story arc. And so while I DID enjoy reading Divergent, it wasn't very impressive of a start.

HOWEVER, I didn't realize how much I was really anticipating the second book until I actually started reading it. What the first book lacked in depth, emotion, relatability, twists and the like... well, this second book made up for more than enough of what I hadn't been satisfied about before. It was like the author knew exactly what was left hanging from the first book (that I personally felt cheated on) and included all of it in wonderfully with Insurgent's creation.

The first book ended on such a fast-paced closing that there wasn't time to see into Tris's mind; but in the second book, we immediately delve into that exact psyche of hers to see how the aftermath of all that has happened is now affecting her. And so we get a chance to follow a more emotionally unstable heroine as she struggles with herself as well as with the world around her to find some sort of inner peace, and yet she never feels like she can get there. I especially enjoyed following through Tris's eyes as all of this happens to her, though there are moments where she gets quite mopey and you start to wonder where that spunky, stubborn, violent Tris Prior disappeared. While I DID appreciate that Tris's instability didn't always deter her perceptiveness and her determination, there were moments where I wondered whether she had been given too much credit by the author in trusting her own instincts and always being right about certain happenings.

The second book even gives us more interaction between friends, foes, family, and people of factions who have never interacted before. I like that we get to see more of the rest of the factions and live through the culture shock through Tris's eyes. There was more development in friendships that could have potentially shattered, and family ties that were supposedly strong, and even factions that were initially united. And then finally, we get to see what I'd been wondering about this strange dystopian society in the first place; a twist for the ending that tells us about the outside world which was never once mentioned in the first book. Here we get a small taste of what's to come in the next installment, a possibly more thorough explanation of why the society was built the way it has been for so long. The conspiracy of this entire, strange division among factions as well as the appearance of Divergent. And just as well, a new twist involving a family history lessen, maybe, about the Priors. While a lot of it felt rather predictable as the ending neared, I still found it pretty well executed and a very smooth transition into the next book.

And so, unlike with my feelings after Divergent, I look forward to seeing what will come about in the next book (maybe a conclusion to the series?). Kudos to Veronica Roth -- even though I didn't quite take to the first book, this second book, Insurgent, was presented much more thrillingly and much more satisfactorily than the first one. It is nice that the books become progressively better rather than worse, but it was also great that the first book didn't entirely deflect the series from my radar anyway.



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Review: Storybound

Storybound by Marissa Burt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



It was the premise of the story plot that got me interested in the first place, and I have to admit that the build up was doing a pretty good job setting up the world and the conflict. However, halfway into the story, it just felt like a chore to read when the conflict continued to be "discussed" rather than progressed on. I admire that there is a strong female heroine in this story, but I feel like Una Fairchild fit into the world too easily after being transported from the world of Readers. She almost instantly began to behave the same way that all the "characters" of Story behaved and you couldn't even really tell that she wasn't part of Story. Nothing seemed entirely strange to her and she readily accepted each and every new strange occurrence. Maybe it was the fact that she was still young and open-minded, or maybe it has to do with the ultimate reason why she had been Written In to Story, but never had this issue been brought up about how easily she fit into Story.

The characters ran a bit flat and I found that aside from that mysterious conflict going on from Story's history, I didn't really care what happened to the main characters at all. Peter Merriweather was an admirable main male lead as well, except for a young kid who's afraid of failing his practical exams and who came from a good, wholesome family, he seemed to have no problems bending rules, skipping classes, and getting into trouble. It seemed as if each character was just "playing a role" rather than coming to life as their own character.

I plan on reading the next book, but I'm not really anticipating it too much. It's one of those, "I'll read it when I see it next, or whenever I have time" types of things.



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Review: Witch & Wizard

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It's hard to say how I actually felt about this book, but to be totally honest, I would file it under the short, fun, sweet, and witty category. Basically, it's something that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, but not something that I would boast about to friends unless they also wanted something short and fun to amuse themselves with.

The only reason I started reading Witch and Wizard in the first place was because it came to me from the library's e-book waiting list alert. I had put myself on the waiting list for this book out of curiosity one day and had forgotten about it; then I got the email alert and decided to go ahead and check the book out for 21 days and hope to have it read within that time frame. Well, apparently 21 days was a lot more than I really needed to finish this particular book. I knew that I was going to be done by the time I hit 50% after four hours.

This book is written in a very simplistic fashion as a first person narrative through the eyes of two different narrators: fifteen year old Wisty and her eighteen year old Whit. Brother and sister chronicle their tale of how they came to be a witch and wizard in a suddenly changed society, taken over by some whack-job who calls himself "The One Who Is The One" (which amusingly reminds me of those strange names I come up with for role-playing games whenever I can't think of something cooler, so I settle with stuff like "That One Person" or "That Other Guy").

While I'm not a big fan of first person narration to begin with, there are certain instances where it works and I enjoy it just fine. In this book, I'd say that it was fine; HOWEVER, there were certain points where the flipping back and forth from Wisty and Whit almost got confusing. Pretty much there were times when I had to conscious remind myself who's POV I was reading from in each chapter, though since the chapters were short, those moments of confusion were short-lived and usually settled themselves pretty quickly when the name of the other sibling was mentioned.

The story line requires quite a bit of willingness for suspension of disbelief, especially since the groundwork of this newly formed dystopian world is still in the making. But I don't mind it too much since the readers are learning about the new screwed up world that seemed to practically fall in overnight at the same pace that Wisty and Whit are learning about it. The magic system is still a bit sketchy and the ending drifts on a cliff hanger, so it seems that it's a must that you start reading the second book when chance allows. Of course, somehow, the ending also seems to give you leeway for not needing to IMMEDIATELY seek out the second book. At least for me, I can wait it out for the next available e-book library copy on yet another waiting list.

While not the best written book ever, the book DOES accomplish what it sets off to do with enough wit and humor to make me giggle and laugh out loud. I enjoy following a set of characters with a great sense of the laughs and both Wisty and Whit have their own dry sarcasm and strange humor that I can totally relate with.

I will look forward to the next book, but I'm not going to trample anyone to get to it. It was really just a fun, light read (which reminded me of Japanese manga at times); so I can say that I really DID enjoy it.



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Review: The Sweet Far Thing

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I really wanna give this book a score between "It was Okay" and "I liked it" because I can't say that I actually liked this last book of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, but I can't particularly say that I didn't like it either. It's one of those things where the anticipation over-weighs what you actually end up getting from the book; I liked the trilogy as a whole, but I'm not saying that it was the best thing I've read since I first picked up my bookworm mission, and the concluding book to this trilogy really DID lose a LOT of steam halfway through. About 70% into the book and I suddenly felt like I just wanted everything to conclude right then and there and quit dragging the story out until it's bitter end.

Nonetheless, there is very little I really want to say about The Sweet Far Thing; it proved rather consistent in character development and progression. The writing style remained up to par, and I DID find myself wanting to know how the story would end even though a lot of things became rather predictable very quickly. Basically, the ending twist was NOT exciting to me because I had already guessed it; no harm and no disappointment, but a little bit of hope diminished that I'd be surprised. What I'm saying is, that while I approve of the ending, I'm not completely satisfied. It's a very safe, very smooth conclusion and I know that it fits in well with the story; but I personally would have preferred something different. That's just me.

Anyway, I have enjoyed the trilogy, and while it took a bit of time for me to even get into the book, once I finally figured out what was going on in the Gemma Doyle world and the story started to take it's course, I was hooked. Ms. Libba Bray does have very good penmanship, and I especially enjoyed her characters of Gemma, Ann and Felicity, the teachers (of course, I also got pretty annoyed with them as well, but at the very least they weren't all Mary Sues out to save the world; defining character flaws are always welcome... though sometimes the character flaws might have gotten out of hand and got some grumbling from me).



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Review: Rebel Angels

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Not bad for book two of this trilogy where we get to start seeing a much darker side to the entire magical aspect of Gemma's adventure with her friends. I don't really have much to say about this particular book except that I really enjoyed how the story is progressing. Of course, there are a LOT of things that made me stop and wonder, such as the naivette of the girls for too easily trusting the wrong people, or so easily turning against one another in tantrums brought out by their own insecurities. There is still that annoying "every woman for herself" selfishness in each of our characters, and yet at the same time, they wish to have a deeper friendship filled with trust and love. It's hard for people to fully trust or receive trust if they can so readily arm themselves against an attack that hasn't happened yet.

But enough about that -- as far as story goes, the progression and the "surprise" twists really weren't as surprising as some might have expected. It wasn't hard to figure out who the true enemy was by the time the first book ended and this is only coming from dozens and dozens of story line progression strategies that you become aware of after reading so many books. Ms. Libba Bray DOES paint very good images and has written the book rather well in terms of style; it's a lot better than a lot of other books I've read lately, so it's a pleasant reprieve from the many books I'm being told to pick up and read with the moniker "Best Book Ever" or "excellent writing style" tacked on by people who obviously don't really read much.

While at first, in book one of this trilogy, I wasn't really enjoying it, I'm glad that things have picked up and I have hopes that the final book will prove that I didn't stick with the trilogy for nothing. For the most part, the good writing kept me going, the interesting descriptions and word usage had me hoping, and at present, Gemma's development is actually pretty nice to see. Moving onto the third book now and ready to finish up this adventure.

The Victorian era is a world that I understand little about, but if it's anything like it is spelled out in Gemma Doyle's world, then I hope I never have to endure something like that in my own life -- makes me glad my time is so much more free and NOT built so much on reputations and the like. It sound exhausting, but it was kind of amusing to watch the character go through all of those traditional activities of the uppity-up high society wealth and their snobbery of lifestyles. Amusing, not that I liked it, but it was fun nonetheless.



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Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The beginning of this book didn't hook me in as I had been expecting from all the praises the book was getting from friends around. But then again, after a run of bad books, I should have known better. Nonetheless, the further I got into the story, the more interested I became with it, which is a plus in number of stars, though the unfortunate downfall was that it starts off rather slowly.

I don't like including summaries in my reviews, so I won't mention anything outside of some character information. The first impression I had gotten about this book was that I didn't particularly find any of the characters likable. They had their sardonic charms, but I couldn't help but to wonder if Gemma Doyle was a naturally dour person since she didn't seem to be able to find ANYTHING she liked at all throughout the first half of the book. She didn't get along with the girls who are all conniving, manipulative and straight out mean (which I'm assuming is what "Victorian" age people are supposed to act like? I don't know, I don't read many books in this era of history.).

As annoying as the characters were, that's not what kept me from getting into the book in the first place -- the story just didn't seem to be going anywhere. We spent a whole deal of filler time getting Gemma from India to London and finally to a more better understanding of what's going on in the magical world (for me, at least). And when the girls form their makeshift Order and begin to bond, THAT's when I actually started to enjoy the story a bit more. And from then on, it just started getting more intriguing.

So as far as the series goes, I'm interested in seeing what else will happen in the last two books of this series. Even though the girls are harsh with words, I can't help but to think that this is what makes strong bonds and friendships anyway, so I actually love how the girls interact with each other (Gemma, Ann, Felicity and Pippa), though there are some points where they DO have their annoying traits resurface, such as Ann's deep desire to be accepted as someone she isn't (a beautiful, privileged girl from a well-to-to family) at the expense of Gemma's irritation. Case in point, when Ann tried to be a different person in front of Gemma's brother, not bothering to be a supporting friend when Gemma had her fight with her brother.

But those character flaws are what makes these girls a little more likable than if we were dealing with four Mary Sues in a row. So I actually kind of liked them at the worst.

Anyway, as slow a start as this book had been, I really enjoyed it overall and will move onto the next book. For one, the reason I kept going in the first place was because the author DOES show a good sense of writing style that is descriptive, witty and smooth. In particular, the organ grinder's monkey just really stood out to me no matter how insignificant the item seemed at the beginning of the book. It's the little things I notice sometimes that makes or breaks a book for me, I guess.



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Review: Darkness Exposed

Darkness Exposed by Terri Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I can't say that this is the best book in the series, but at least we finally get some closure on the Police Chief, Bradley Alden's missing/murdered wife, Jeannine. Terrifying secrets are revealed about the "good" neighbors living in Bradley's old neighborhood surrounding Jeannine's death. With Jeannine's ghost remembering certain details of what might have happened to her eight years ago, Mary and her new acquaintance, Ian MacDougal (who is a Scottish hottie professor who also sees ghosts and studies the paranormal in conjunction with criminal investigation) pose as a couple moving into Bradley's old home to investigate Jeannine's death.

I can't say that the mystery was very secret after the first encounters with each neighbor occurs. I almost immediately pinpointed the culprit and found it amusing that the rest of the neighbors gave off even creepier vibes as suspects. Nonetheless, it was still an interesting follow-up to the conflict following Bradley for eight years, finally giving closure to his wife's mystery.

On the side, we are given a not-so-distracting side story involving an arsonist. While the two cases do not tie together, there are certain elements concerning idealism, emotion, as well as the supernatural that sort of (if you really want to make that connection) ties the two cases together (not really, but I try because it makes me feel happier).

Once again, as always, my one favorite factor of the Mary O'Reilly series keeping me in enjoyment is none other than the characters. So even if the plot runs flat, I still really enjoy following the world of Mary and all of her companions. I can't say that I'm a hundred percent in like with Bradley Alden (he seems like standard male hero creation, which is fine and safe), but the rest of the men (living or dead) appeal to me so much more than he does. Mike Richards, the fireman ghost kind of takes a slight backseat in this particular story when it seems he can't seem to follow Mary away from Freeport, so I was a little disappointed. He still gets some book time though, so that's not too bad.

Ian turned out to be a delight to have as a new partner for Mary's ghostly investigations with his studies and knowledge as well as the ability to see ghosts as well. What I'm really appreciating is that the author doesn't try to incorporate unnecessary love triangles; Ian has a sweetheart back home in Scotland and he makes rather clear that he is very much in love with his fiancee Gillian. There is no romantic tension show between him and Mary; for instance, when they kiss each other (while it came as a surprise to me that they did it so naturally without hesitation) in front of the neighbors, they both agree that it doesn't feel awkward because there's no spark (like kissing a sibling; though how many people know a pair of siblings to actually kiss each other on the lips?). HOWEVER, I let that one slip by and just contribute it to the author's need to emphasize that there will be no romantic conflict going on to interfere with the resident main couple. While it's a little forced (because who wouldn't feel flustered around a black spandex shirt wearing Scottish professor with an accent and those darned "man boobies"?) I just appreciate that there seems to be no inclination towards a love triangle. Love triangles are one of the few tropes of romances that I really, really don't care for, even if I'll accept it under reasonable circumstances.

While I still love Rosie and Stanley, there are some points in the book where I sort of wished that they weren't trying to portray the meddlesome, nagging grandparent-types. They became too overprotective of Mary (even if for good reason) but those instances didn't seem to really sit as very significant aside from showing that they are indeed Mary's best friends who care for her well-being. But Mary has enough people worrying about her well-being already without her two best friends trying to talk her out of doing things that they darn well know she won't budge from. I'm just saying, as best friends, sometimes even if you know your best friend is doing something stupid, you know that saying something isn't going to change his or her mind at all. Then again, I guess it doesn't hurt to keep trying and being insistent.

Finally, there's Jeannine whom I really found I liked a lot. She had a great personality, young and witty and I found myself thinking that it was a pity that she was both dead AND Bradley's wife. She and Mary had great conversation and understanding of one another and would have made a very interesting pair (in an alternate universe of Mary O'Reilly fun, Jeannine and Mary would have made a great set of best friends).

On an end note about the characters, we get to see Sean O'Reilly a bit more too, but still not enough to satisfy my own wants. I'm almost hoping that Ms. Terri Reid might consider making Sean a main player in one of future projects? Just a thought. I don't know why, but despite not seeing much of him, I really do like this guy -- maybe because he's that ideal protective big brother I've always wished for, or maybe because of the fact that he's protective but not too overbearing, or maybe just because he's got a "sibling-evil" type personality wherein, even though he spends time protecting the baby sister, he doesn't hold back from being the jerk that big brothers can be when teasing for good old sibling rivalry fun.

Of course, I must say, I'm thinking that if not for the straight forward, well-paced progression of these short novels, as well as the emphasis on the mysteries and the supernatural, the characters might fall flat for most readers. What I'm starting to pick up is that, while each character indeed possess their own distinct personalities, they also tend to all have the same personality as well. I'm not sure how to explain it so that it makes sense, but sometimes I feel like the characters are too perfect: everyone has the same justice-seeking idealism, good morale, comprehensible and understanding bantering and witticisms, hero-like qualities... I could go on and without certain defining character traits, such as Mary's stubborn ex-Chicago police tough girl pride, Bradley's overprotective male ego ideals, or even Mike the fireman ghost's smarmy and flirtatious charm, I probably wouldn't be able to tell one voice from another.

This particular trait plays in favor of the Mary O'Reilly world as well as becomes a disadvantage. The disadvantage shows in that it cannot quite stand alone as a unique world full of unique people without the supernatural and mystery elements as well as the author's own witticisms to hold it up. I have never read a book (or five books) where almost every character who is significant to the world is completely likable without any annoying, defining character flaws. Bradley comes a bit close to it, but I overlook that for his love line with Mary. Otherwise, everyone in this universe who has anything to do with Mary and her mysteries are almost too perfect to be true. It's a good thing and a bad thing -- the bad being what I've mentioned already. The good thing about how these characters are created: I love all of them (as I've stated time and time again). There's no harm in following a group of exceptionally likable characters; my own preference is that I really don't care for angsty confrontations if they can be avoided, though I know that a lot of people like that emotional tension between characters. But everyone in this universe like each other within Mary's supernatural mystery investigation clique, which is nice and safe. For one, I don't mind it too much just because then we don't take away from the mysteries by including too many unnecessary relationship conflicts.

Still, the world just seems too perfect, but I guess when you're someone who sees ghosts all the time and have to try to survive the murderers in almost every book, no conflicts among the usual round of characters in your clique is probably a good thing. I know, I'm hard to please and can get a bit contradictory, but the ultimate deal is, I still really, really like this series and will continue to follow the books (and hope that Sean O'Reilly gets to be seen more often).



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Review: Final Call

Final Call by Terri Reid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Immediately after finishing the third book, I curiously jumped into the fourth book. Within four hours, it was finished (yes, I should have been sleeping and now I'm running on about four hours of sleep because I got a little greedy). Was this book better than the one previous to it? Well, I have to admit that it was... but not by too much. However, I gave it a four star rating instead of two like I had the previous.

The mystery of Final Call wasn't anything outstanding. A rude, arrogant, bitchy primadonna stage actress gets murdered and there are so many people who would have been her enemy. At the same time, we also see a separate side story where a reverend who appeared in the last book comes to seek Mary's help because he can't figure out why he's not going to heaven despite being so devoted to the church. It got a little fussy at times, switching back and forth from one major plot to a not so major plot that still got a lot of page time. If the reverend's plot had been downsized a little bit, maybe it wouldn't have felt so stuffy. The thing is, in the first few books, (especially the first book) two separate cases usually ended up tying together at some point. In this book, the two separate cases had nothing to do with each other.

But that's fine, somehow it all still worked out because the character developments were astounding in Final Call. Bradley and Mary come to a hitch in their relationship when we finally reveal to Bradley that his wife Jeannine is already dead and Mary has known since the end of Book Two. New characters are introduced and each have their own little quirks. Mike the fireman ghost, at first I didn't like him at all because he seemed really smarmy; afterwards, I totally adore him because he's always there at all the right times AND he's got an excellent wit about him. Jeannine's ghost, at the very least, is a bit more realistic about what's going on than her husband is and not being a vengeful dead wife who wants to keep her husband for herself; I like that she's created as a good woman who had an unfortunate encounter with death. Finally, the newest addition who feels like he'll be another recurring character, Ian MacDougal has the makings for a likable partner.

As for our recurring characters: Stanley and Rosie just keep getting better and better. Sean O'Reilly is an awesome big brother and I bemoan the fact that we don't get to see more of him. I mean, send a good looking Scottish young gentleman who is also a professor my way and you will be my favorite big brother in the world. Really. And while I'm not a big fan of romantic angst, I think our couple needed this separation, which will hopefully finally bring about some closure in the entire thing -- Bradley needs to move on, Jeannine needs to move on. It's just too bad that Mary had to get caught in this family dilemma just because she fell in love with the jerk.

So this time around, even if the story wasn't the best and the two cases seemed a bit messy, the characters of the Mary O'Reilly universe really made up for all of it. I'm a sucker for well-written characters with good development and progression. The story was also okay, so everything just fell into place wonderfully.



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Review: Dead until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1)

Dead until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, #1) by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I'm starting to wonder if I'm even capable of liking any books that are popular with everyone else. Of course, I have to admit that Dead Until Dark did start out with a good concept and a good set-up. The world of the Sookie Stackhouse series is a little hard to buy into, but I got through that initial suspension of disbelief because of the pacing of the story's development.

Sookie Stackhouse almost immediately introduces herself as a telepath, calling her talent a disability, and walks us quickly into the new alternate universe where vampires have announced their existence to the world. We get to see a lot of true-to-form prejudices and realistic reactions of the people to a type of being way different from humans. And so the world of this series is set up rather well... it's not the best concept, but I can live with it.

And then when the murder mysteries began, I was intrigued...

However, we quickly take a backseat with the murder mysteries in favor of Sookie and her romance with Bill Compton, the vampire. While I appreciate the realistics of human nature in dealing with Sookie's relationship with Bill, I really think I could have used a little less of their romance and a little more of Sookie helping to solve the murder mysteries. Because after the third or forth bedroom scene (which was not conservative, mind you) I started to get a little bored with the Sookie Stackhouse life. Was her entire being really based around the romance she had with Bill the vampire? It sure seemed like that was all she cared about. I mean, I'm glad that Sookie is a tough cookie and can stand up for herself when it matters; but she still managed to let herself be pushed around by the man she loved.

Of course, it also doesn't help her own personality that she's also quite wishy-washy with that hot-cold personality. It irked me a little that she seemed to get angry or jealous at Bill for a LOT of trivial things. And it also irked me a lot that she constantly referred to herself as stupid and uneducated, but then she turns around and condemns other people for indirectly implying that she's stupid and uneducated. Her mind frame had a lot of contradicting ideals which made me not quite care for Sookie as a person. Finally, her romance with Bill really doesn't have that feel of love to it more than it actually feels like lust; she becomes quite attracted to a lot of the other good-looking men in the story and even has thoughts about sleeping with them as well even after claiming how much she's in love with Bill.

Call me old-fashioned, but I hardly think it's appropriate for anyone to have thoughts about sleeping with someone else if you're with someone already whom you claim to be devotedly in love with. Then again, maybe I've misinterpreted some things in there, because a lot of the story seemed like filler that I read through and didn't quite commit to memory or anything.

Overall, I thought the book was fine, but not really as great as most have given it praise for. I mean, really, slap one of those Harlequin for romance novel covers on this one and it wouldn't really make much of a difference. It just so happens that this one is based in a paranormal alternate universe with an insignificant murder mystery to keep use curious.

Will I read the next book? Maybe. I might pick it up just to see if it handles the murder mystery a little bit better. For one, the other name that this series goes by is the Southern Vampire Mysteries, and thus, I expected more mystery and less... well, I don't mind a little bit of romance or a smut scene here or there in books; this particular book had a LOT of circling around those very elements (the latter being quite emphasized on). So it wasn't exactly my favorite book, or even one that I would care to come back and read. Then again, it wasn't like it was altogether terrible, so it has its positives.



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Review: Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



EDIT 3/2/2012:
Okay... I couldn't do it. After finishing half of the book, I found myself setting it down and saying that I would come back to it later. Later ended up being about three weeks later and when I picked it back up, I was a little reluctant to continue reading it. Why? I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I really just didn't want to go through another two hundred pages of this never ending forbidden love.

Bella loves Edward, Edward loves Bella, but they're trapped in this somewhat flimsy "We can't be together because of obvious reasons" forbidden love drama. And yet... they STILL get together even if just to hang out and see each other and be together and NOT make-out. I mean, they're together, but they don't admit that they are officially together. But Bella DOES refer to him as her boyfriend even though they aren't official because Edward's afraid that he'll somehow lose his senses and kill her.

I say: "Just turn her into a vampire already! It'll solve all sorts of problems, really." But who am I to judge the logic of the Twilight world, right?

Maybe I couldn't finish this book because of the main female lead. I DO have issues liking a story line if I don't like the characters. I once did drop an anime series (yes, I watch anime too) because I couldn't find one likable character. And the story line didn't fair too well either.

The story line of Twilight isn't much better. Well, let me rephrase that: The story of a normal high school girl falling in love with a god-like vampire boy is something that I could probably buy into. However, three hundred pages (because that's how far I got) of a girl mooning over her forbidden love that was reciprocated anyway... I couldn't take it anymore. This story could have been edited down to around a hundred pages and maybe I would have been a little more forgiving. Or if the adventure started somewhere earlier on in the first book, I would have had a reason to keep reading. But as I was told, after Bella and Edward have their mutual affections not quite acknowledged by each other, some villain will show up and well... apparently that's when it starts getting interesting.

Okay... Well, why didn't we get the villain and the intrigue to begin with. At the very least, incorporate the villain somewhere in the beginning so that I have SOMETHING to look forward to. While I like the occasion romance story (since I'm a sucker for rom-coms and romantic dramedies all around) I don't mind a story being based off of just a pair of lovers getting together. But it should at least be interesting... and written well. If the narration were at least witty, then I could follow it a little better and have better thoughts of Bella.

But no. I don't like Bella for her personality, her wannabe emo drama queen tendencies, her complete dedication to letting her entire life revolve around Edward every day, 24/7, and her lack of witticisms. She is JUST not an interesting person to follow. And her tendencies to be arrogant where she shouldn't be about her academics, about the rest of the peanut gallery going to high school with her... Because this is a case of creating a dull character who is actually the most appealing character in the story just because every other supporting character is created to be even flatter than the main character. No one else in the story has a personality either.

And so, to all of those people who recommended Twilight to me, bugging me to read the book before I judged anything... Twilight is totally NOT the "Best Book Ever". Case closed. At first, before even reading Twilight, I didn't really have much thought about it aside from, "I'm not interested in the vampire genre." Now, after attempting to read it, my impressions of it have gotten even worse. I probably would have been better off just leaving it alone.

However, I DO repeat, that I DO understand where the appeal lies. I get the story and I get cult following. What I DON'T get is how people can say the words "Best Story Ever" or "Best Book Ever" without batting an eye. I mean, sure, it's a cute little love story, based off of the most cliched trope in all romances: a poor, under-appreciated Cinderella girl meets her perfect, worship-worthy Prince Charming. And that's all it is.

And that's pretty much all I need to say about it. I'm sorry I couldn't give a more fair review by finishing the entire book then making my opinions... but I just couldn't find it in myself to pick the book back up and knock out the rest of it without hitting my head with the book a few more times.

First Impression from 2/6/2012
Before anyone starts jumping down my throat about my unfair judgement, let me start by saying that this is sort of like my "Pre-test" to reading Twilight. This is the "First Impression" opinion; the future still holds many possibilities to whether or not my opinions change. And you know what? I'm entitled to first impression opinions too. In the future when I've read and decided whether or not I actually enjoy this book (or even the entire series), THEN we can let the "I told you so's" commence. Until then, bear with me because I DO have lots of opinions.

For as far as I've read (probably just chapter one), Twilight reminds me of something painfully embarrassing about my own past: my first couple attempts at writing my own stories.

Basically this is how it adds up: I take a basic plot and add an ideal heroine to it. Along the way, that ideal heroine ends up becoming more and more Mary Sue to the point that even I start to become annoywed with her. In fact, I keep adding on self-claimed traits that make absolutely no contribution to the story outside of bolstering my Mary Sue into a bigger Mary Sue. While I'm at it, I make said Mary Sue into a self-proclaimed loser... however, due to all of the other descriptive factors about her, we are pretty hard-pressed to believe half of what she says about herself. In essence, she has become the resident high school drama queen despite the fact that she has nothing to throw around about dramatic woes. She's the pretty, smart, misunderstood girl with a heart of gold; but in reality, she's got a nice family, people willing to get to know her, and she's really not as individualistic or alone as she keeps claiming, and honestly NOT that witty either.

For instance, Bella's little cheek about the high school kids of Forks not understanding sarcasm. This is a little snit that would have had more conviction if it had come from someone who was naturally sardonic to begin with; however, so far in her own narration, I have sensed no colorful or creative witticisms. In fact, she's really just telling things as they occur, making a comparison here and there, every so often that seem like an attempt to be witty, but ultimately just end up being flat analysis. If there had been some sarcasm intended in any part of her narration, I must have missed it completely, or just didn't understand it all (my bad).

At best, she seems pretentious and extra-emo-wannabe (which I don't condemn her for because she IS a high school girl after all and we've all been through that phase). At the very least, could she have been written a little more in style rather than on such a bland first impression?

What else can I add? Oh yes. Writing style. Simple, straight forward, yet unattractive and almost too monotonous. Once again, very much like the way I used to attempt writing my own stories -- like I had a stunted vocabulary or something like that.

Bella Swan is an extremely one dimensional character for all I can see right now. It's probably unfair of me to judge her so prematurely (only one chapter into the book), but the fact that she seems to have a lot of qualifiers for her own personality versus how she really sounds versus how she sees herself... it makes it hard to know in which direction she's supposed to eventually develop. She sees herself as an outcast, takes no pleasantries with her mood, attitude, or looks, but almost has an air of feeling like she's the one being singled out when in fact she's the one shoving people away. In terms of character, I'm already not liking her.

HOWEVER, to the benefit of the story itself, I have to admit that it's quite intriguing already. Its only downfall is that it's written with a style very akin to someone at third grade vocabulary level. Short descriptions, using the same expressions and words, no analogies, no words worthy of imagination... Random tidbit information that does story progression no good, but at the very least, they are brief and so you forget about anyway (which makes it kind of unnecessary and you wonder why we need to know about each and every class Bella is attending throughout the day). But the story's idea isn't bad; the premise is attractive enough that its gotten my attention for the next scene or the next chapter to come.

Why is Edward Cullen so hostile to Bella before he's even met her? What's up with the entirety of the high school who seem so curious about Bella? Most of all, already knowing the premise of this story line, what ends up drawing a vampire to Bella when he starts off the very first chapter resenting her very being, repulsed by her presence, and simply angry that he even has to breathe the same air as she does?

For the most part, I have enough of an interest in the story line to continue on with this book. At least I have an idea where it's going and where it will end up. I just want to know what happens to get it there. Unfortunately, it's the character of Bella Swan as well as the writing style that's got me conflicted about how well I'll be able to follow the rest of the story. Nonetheless, after this first chapter, I'm going to be adding this book to my reading list permanently. I'm a sucker for romance anyway, and so if the story develops ideally, then at the very least, I've got a nice romance and a possibly interesting story to follow.

After all, there HAS to be a reason why so many people are so in love with this entire series, right?

I realize that my opinions might seem rather harsh for only having read one chapter. And I realize that people might think that I'm not interested in giving Twilight a fighting chance either. And I admit openly that I really DID start reading this book with the intention of fully NOT enjoying it. Yes, I was looking for faults, which conclusively resulted in my finding of so many of them. Call it bias or call it an anti-popular trend streak I have, but whatever it is, this is exactly how I felt about the beginning of the book.

I'm not the type to be pretentious and hate everything that's popular. I've been on the Harry Potter bandwagon, the Hunger Games tent... so I'm not averse to popularity. And yes, I DO admit that I've had my criticisms of Twilight, prejudged before I've even read or seen the movies. I'm not a fan of vampire genres outside of the original Dracula novel, and have always had issues with weak female leads (of which I've heard so much from others, seems to fit Bella Swan's description). BUT, I'm willing to give this series a chance to change my mind because I don't want to be told that I can't judge a book before I've even had a chance to experience it.

And so, come what may... Maybe by the time I've gotten to the heart of Twilight's conflict (which I've heard doesn't even quite come around until Book Three?), I'll be fully engrossed with the entire world and the story. Maybe I'll even come around to like Bella. But for now, in this present, this post is exactly how I feel about Twilight: my pre-judgement and my "only-one-chapter-in-impression-so-how-dare-I-pass-judgement-so-quickly" first impression opinions.



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Review: Good Tidings

Good Tidings by Terri Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Two books, one author, three days. It would probably only take about a day to read these short and cozy mysteries by Terri Reid, but I typically start off my reading day nearing the night (since I'm third shift and that's the time I'm awake) and then finish it sometime after the new day has come around. I must say that these books are quite satisfying -- at the very least, I'm turning pages wanting to know how the mystery is solved.

Of course, these ARE pretty short stories from what I'm used to reading, so I'm not surprised that I've been finishing them up so quickly.

The second book of the Mary O'Reilly paranormal mysteries takes our two main heroes all the way to Mary's home city of Chicago in an investigation of an infant snatching. The deceased six year old big brother of the kidnapped infant is Mary's "client" this time; he is Joey Marcum who was able to remain by his family's side after death as his little brother's guardian angel. In this case then, little Joey makes for a pretty good spy in finding out what's going on around his brother and the infant snatchers and what they're doing.

We also get some insight into Mary's near-death experience as well as learn more about Bradley Alden's past. There's some forwarded romantic development as well as a lot of nice and warm moments among the O'Reilly family.

For starters, the writing style seems to be progressively getting better and better. I'd chance to say that the author could still use some editing as I've caught a lot of consistent grammatical errors and awkward word usage. But overall, just like the first book, it was a fun mystery experience. Good Tidings, however, wasn't as good as the first one despite having a more refined format and I think there was a little too much being slopped together from the kidnapping case and then moving into a drug/murder conspiracy. The transitioning felt a bit awkward, but it still managed to pull through.

What I'm loving about the Mary O'Reilly series so far is really the characters and their developments. I love Stanley and Rosie with a passion -- these two side characters are created as very witty, very loyal, yet brutally honest best friends to our heroine. I also like seeing the few side ghostly story arcs that take place so that we know that Mary doesn't simply attract all the crazy encounters that lead her into murder cases, kidnapping cases, rape cases (can I use the word rape in these reviews?)... the like. We see that there are some ghostly visitors who just have a simple unfinished matter that needs to attend to and then they can move on and be at peace.

While I'm continuing to enjoy the series, I didn't quite care for this second book as much as I had enjoyed the first one. And so here's hoping that the third one is just as gripping.



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Review: Loose Ends

Loose Ends by Terri Reid

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I feel like I just opened up this book on my tablet and started reading it not long ago. Before I realized what was happening, I was 50% finished and still wanting to continue reading. In that instant, despite the "newbie writer" feel that I get from the way this book was written, I knew that this would be a winner.

As stated already, in my first and only update, I love a good mystery and I'm a sucker for ghostly mysteries. So the summary of the story line really hooked me in already and I became curious. It also helped that this is one of those self-published cheap buys going for the "this won't even put a dent in my savings account" price. So it wasn't like I had much to lose just buying it and reading it out of curiosity. (AND I needed something to recover from my failed Twilight reading attempt.)

Aside from the mystery and paranormal/supernatural aspects of this book, I think what I found I liked as well were the characters. Mary O'Reilly, being an ex Chicago top police officer turned private investigator was already a great back history to go with for a strong female protagonist. And from day one of this delightful mystery, this young woman kicked butt (not literally). Despite there being a tall and handsome Police Chief introduced as a good "Knight in Shining Armor" to help her out, a lot of times, Mary managed pretty well on her own; none of that damsel in distress stuff. Mary O'Reilly was created to be a strong female lead and the author delivers.

I had stated earlier that this book gave me that same feeling that amateur writers often give me. Let me rephrase this description:

I used to lurk the forums of Fictionpress.com and Fanfiction.net regularly a couple years back. These are both places for amateur writers (some not so amateur) who didn't have the means of publishing, but just wanted to share their ideas with the online community. I used to be one of those before I realized that I'm just NOT a good writer despite having so many ideas for some possible good story lines and characters. A lot of the work uploaded onto these two sites are typically like "impulse" stories. One of these people come up with a cute idea, writes a short story about it and then uploads it for all to see. And so what I'm saying is, a good percentage of stories seen on these websites are typically the raw, first draft version -- there has been no editing outside of catching a few punctuation and grammatical errors here and there. Sometimes this particular story has only ever been read by the author alone before being uploaded.

So the writing style is usually straight forward, to the point with little description, no drawn out narrations, and sometimes random scenes that you wonder about. It's not the best format every, and a lot of paragraphs could have been lengthened for more detail or combined so that the form didn't look so choppy. The rest of the story was based a lot on dialogue as well, more so than narration (a lot of "he said" and then "she said" and then "she said again" repetition in conversations). This is how I felt about Loose Ends when I started reading it. The flow of scenes was a little awkward wherein when a scene changed, I didn't realize it. Sometimes it took my a bit of thinking to realize who was talking. For instance, when we introduce Mary O'Reilly, one moment she's in her kitchen pondering about the headless soldier haunting her, the very next paragraph she's in bed hitting the snooze button on her alarm. There had been no signs of scene transition and I had gotten a slight case of confusion, wondering if she'd dreamed the whole headless soldier thing.

However, the chapters were short, the details were to-the-point, and there was no unnecessary prattling in narration. And as the book continued on, I found that it didn't matter how the format was put together; short chapters were nice, random scene changes transitioned better within each chapter, and our main character was really growing on me. By mid-book, all I cared about was the story, the characters and how everything would turn out in the end. Granted, as most mysteries usually go, you pretty much figure out who the culprit is by then as well and you're really just trying to get to the end to see how our heroes finally figure out the truth; also, in the case of Mary O'Reilly, we also get a chance to see how she manages to find REAL evidence to put our criminal away. As the summary goes, "a ghost's word just doesn't hold up in court" or something like that.

The process of which Mary goes through her investigation, utilizing her ghostly sources as well as the living sources and tying everything together was rather refreshing. And it was good that she was able to move through all of her investigation like a pro (she was an ex cop after all). Unfortunately, there are points where we head a little too far into standard Mary Sue territory and Mary O'Reilly seems too perfect to be true... and then she either blunders something or shows those defining character flaws and we are back on track.

Paranormal genres are already quite hard to handle because they don't sit very well on the reality scale. A reader's suspension of disbelief is truly tested on these types of stories and if done properly, you've got yourself an excellent telling; done wrong and that impression is forever lost because the reader won't be able to get passed that first "supernatural" occurrence enough to buy into the rest of the story line.

So Loose Ends, in this aspect, does a great job drawing the reader into both the ghostly aspect as well as the mystery. To conclude, the character of Mary O'Reilly was also quite witty and there were two specific scenes in the entire book where I actually laughed out loud. Frankly, Terri Reid pretty much won me over with her female lead actually deducing that walking into her basement alone knowing that someone is out to kill her wouldn't be a good idea because she'd "seen the movies." I have always made fun of horror movie girls for walking right into the killer when she really should have gotten reinforcements or ran away. So when Mary decided to call the Police Chief rather than out-stubborn her own common sense with her ex-cop strong woman pride, I gave a little cheer. I'm not saying that the girl isn't allowed to be the strong woman ex-cop, but I'm saying that at the very least, she wasn't stupid about her situation, which wins more points than trying to be independent and strong (not that I'm above creating that stubborn independence in some of my own female leads).

As short as it was (with some of the shortest chapters I've ever read) this book hooked me from beginning until the end. And well, now I'm off to find the rest of the Mary O'Reilly mysteries.



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Looking forward to a new book: Palace of Stone

Goodreads Page

Sequel? Where was I when this was announced?

Ahem... Let's not answer that question, because I know where I've been for a while. And we'll leave it at that. There is very little news or commentary about what this sequel to Princess Academy will be about. Either that or I'm not looking hard enough, but I'm still very excited about it. Ever since I first discovered the cute little book and it's cover as my very first Shannon Hale delight a few years ago, I've been in love with all of her work.

To date, Book of a Thousand Days remains my favorite Shannon Hale book, and possibly one of my most favorite of all books I've ever read. She does an excellent job infusing young adult material with fairy-tale fantasy with a side dish of romance and adventure. It just hits all the right spots and it's also a bonus that her writing is so witty and detailed as well.

And now a sequel to Princess Academy? I'm ecstatic and waiting for the moment that I can add it to my collection. The conflict, do I want to buy it in e-book format first or physical book format first? If it's really that good, I'll have it in both formats, much like I have Book of a Thousand Days in my Nook as well as in paperback (it is, so far, the ONLY book I have bought twice).

Princess Academy was the very first Shannon Hale wonder I picked up, so hopefully the sequel will be just as wonderous! Here's looking forward to it!

Review: Twilight -- 50% Progress Report

So I kind of see where this teenage romance fluff would be appealing to younger girls. In fact, the fifteen year old in me has been making some commentary alongside my twenty-seven year old commentary and they are sort of playing "good cop, bad cop" with this book right now. Twilight, if anything, is first and foremost a romance set in a fantastical world: Girl meets boy; boy is good looking (in this case, boy is "dazzling"); girl falls for boy almost immediately; boy is also drawn to girl; let the romance ensue. But one little factor stands in their way -- boy is a vampire who may or may not be able to control his urges to suck all of girl's blood. On the other hand, something about girl draws vampire boy to her and so while he keeps telling her to stay away from him, he doesn't exactly hold up very convincing arguments by constantly catching her attention.

To be totally honest, I'm starting to think that the only appeal about Twilight is the fact that a supposedly "ordinary" high school girl falls in love with a god-like vampire boy and he reciprocates those feelings. It's the standard Cinderella story... Just like EVERY OTHER ROMANCE written for a target audience of young, hopeless romantics (much like myself). It just so happens that Cinderella is an "ordinary" high school girl and Prince Charming is a not-so-ordinary vampire boy. The stakes have changed a little bit; and you know, something like this would really only fly in the face of hopeless romantic girls (myself included).

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good romance every so often as well. In fact, I've probably got the biggest appetite for romantic-comedies, romantic-dramedies, melodramatic romances... you name it, I've seen it romances... and so on and so forth. I spent an entire six to eight months just perusing Japanese shoujo genre manga (if you don't know what that is, don't ask, but I can assure you, it's no different from teenage romance fluff).

So you would think I'd be more forgiving of Twilight.

HOWEVER, I'm really only buying the fact that this is a standard romance story set in a high school full of raging teenage hormones. I've been there (so many years ago), and my inner fifteen year old probably would have enjoyed this book. It probably wouldn't have been worshipped on a pedestal and ranted and raved about like the best thing since cellular phones, but I get it. It's a cute little love story.

But that's it. And maybe that's why it's not working for me as well as any other love story would. With all the fluff I've been exposed to in recent years, I've been looking for things with more substance for a change. So... probably not the best time to pick up Twilight as an act of "I'm going to prove that I didn't pre-judge this book with my pretentious prejudices" stubbornness. Yes, that was the MAIN reason I chose to read Twilight -- I got tired of everyone telling me to read it before I make "false" judgments.

Is it too early, still, for me to say the words "I'm sure I was right"?

I've quit condemning Bella for her personality, but damn if that girl isn't the most one-tracked moronic kid I've ever read about. Maybe I'm just too biased against the weak-willed female protagonists who let boys push her around just because she's supposedly in love with him. Bella Swan is supposed to be a smart, witty, strong, and level-headed girl; supposedly she's independent and had to care for her mother all these years and now feels that she's obligated to care for her father. We are trying to present her as the responsible adult teenage daughter to the flighty, child-like mother and the clueless workaholic father. I see it... in narration. But I DON'T see it in the actual story itself. I mean, sure, Bella does the cooking, cleaning and whatnot around the house. She's responsible and has some self-proclaimed "I'm a police officer's daughter and must be an upstanding citizen" mentality going. But her actions show us differently sometimes, and for a girl who is supposed to be so strong-willed, I don't see how she can so easily bend the rules when it's convenient for her and the sake of her "love" for Edward.

Bella Swan isn't unique or an outcast nor is she misunderstood. She is simply the standard teenage emo-wannabe who feels like her world is a nightmare just because she had to uproot from one city and move to another city she doesn't like. She now has to live with a doting father who cares too much while her frenetic mother blows up her email mailbox always asking about her well-being. And she has the balls to say things like she's used to being the adult so all of that extra love and care kind of disturbs her? (On a side note, I've found myself blurting the words "Ungrateful twit" a few times during my reading of this book.) Her father buys her a vehicle and she's all "Oh my god, why did he have to go and buy me a truck" about it until she sees the truck and finally decides that she actually likes it. She's typically always irritated whenever her parents show worry about her, and she thinks that it's a given that she shouldn't have to answer her mother's emails all the time and that Mom should understand that. And I swear, if she doesn't start addressing her father appropriately as "Dad" or something similar, I might really want to deck her. Because what good is it to call your father "Dad" to his face, but use his name everywhere else? I don't even understand the necessity of that stubborn distinction. WHY is it necessary for her to keep referring to her father so informally as "Charlie"?

But it DOES all come down to one conclusion in the end. Bella Swan is simply nothing more than the typical high school emo-wannabe drama queen. She outcasts herself by not caring to have real friends (she's always under the impression that the girls befriending her have ulterior motives). In order to have true friends, you have to sincerely WANT to be friends too -- in which case, I don't feel that Bella is interested in having Jessica or Angela or Lauren as true friends at all. She doesn't give her father a chance to be a father and get to know her better. And what was the point in her moving away from Mom anyway just because she got remarried?

The author goes to great pains to try and distinguish her as "different" from the rest of the high school kids (which she succeeds in doing all too obviously through narration as well as making the supporting characters complete stock cardboard cut-out dribble). The author goes to LOTS of great pains to not ONLY distinguish Bella as different, but to make her special and ALMOST akin to "vampire-like" with the girl's pale skin, affinity for the smell of blood, and a subtle beauty that apparently attracts EVERY male high school student in the whole damn book. Yes, we've also got a standard trope going here in that every boy Bella Swan crosses falls for her; and she is continuously trying to convince herself that it's not true and that she's "too ordinary"; so if she's not interested in them, I really wish that she would tell them bluntly rather than leading them on.

Of course, her world quickly begins to revolve around one Edward Cullen and THAT'S where I start to understand where her mentality is headed.

Because, as girls (especially the easily hopeless romantic type), we've all been there. Having a crush on a boy is easily the most heartbreaking phenomena that any pre-teen to teenage girl can go through. Because at such a young, delicate age, EVERYTHING to do with the heart is serious stuff. We all live in the now and we care nothing about the future. If your crush doesn't look at you at all throughout the day, you might die of depression. If your crush starts hanging out with other girls, you feel like the most unworthy, loneliest cretin in existence. All stakes are raised when a teenager "falls in love" and I hate to admit, but that's just the way of life. This is standard high school romance drama at its best (or worst, depending on how you stand).

I'm not trying to give Bella a justification for being the way that she is, for spending every single darn sentence of her first-person narration mooning over Edward Cullen. I'm just saying that this is how it is and that because of my new insight, I've found a reason not to resent her idiocy, monotony, and pretentiousness as much as I have been since Chapter One. I'm just saying that I see her point because I've been there before. But for the sake of my own sanity (as well as for clarity), just because I see her point doesn't mean I have to agree with it or like it. For one thing, having a crush on a boy doesn't mean that you lose sense of your own back bone or that standard of beliefs you've grown up on. Having a crush on a boy does NOT mean that your entire life revolves around his every action and every word.

Bella Swan was a character written for the sake of being easily relatable by most girls. We are supposed to feel for her and readily like her for her personality. Unfortunately, her personality is only narrated with words, but never truly shown by action. And also unfortunately, this girl who COULD have been an ideal female protagonist is cast in a world wherein the author has delusions of grand "damsel-in-distress" rescues by the "knight in shining armor" in order to fulfill that traditional sense of wanting to be able to fall for a man who protects you. I mean, yea, we all want a man who is secure and warm and all sorts of perfect... it's an ideal. But to be totally honest, it's not reality; when the guy is way too perfect and the girl is way too worthless, it doesn't balance very well and I start banging my head against the paperback book so that I can vent my frustrations somehow (and yes, I HAVE banged my head against the book multiple times already). At the very least, the girl should be able to fend for herself in some little ways and not need to be saved EVERY FREAKIN' TIME! And if Edward gets any MORE perfect, I will continue to bang my head against the book in frustration.

BUT, as I've said... I see the point. I see the author's direction. I see Bella's point. And I also see the hype (if only a little bit better than before). However, what I don't see is all the praise and all the glamor; it's an ordinary romance novel that just so happens to involve vampires and werewolves.

NOW, if the story line had also started off with some sort of epic adventure wherein it was necessary to have a vampire and werewolf paranormal presence, then I might see more eye-to-eye with this so called "Epic Saga". But as far as Twilight is going, it's JUST a love story (if even that) about an ordinary girl who falls for a vampire boy. And the narration goes on and on just like this short progress report, about the same things, over and over again.

Girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy pushes girl away, girl persists, boy comes around, girl is all googly eyes, girl moons about how pretty boy is, boy pushes girl away, girl persists, girl continues to fawn about boy's beauty, boy comes back around, boy warns about the dangers of being with him, girl persists, boy comes back around... I swear, it's never ending and until Edward can come up with a better reason not to be with Bella other than "I might want to feast on your blood" I think these two really should just make out and get it over with, because it's just driving me crazy, this whole "I love you but I can't be with you" wherein the stakes ARE high, but somehow the characters aren't exactly very convincing about them.

Oh yea... and also, "what supporting characters?" You mean those cardboard cut-out background scenery pieces that keep following the story around? Oh right, they're people in the story as well... but you know what, they could be cut out of the book completely and it wouldn't make a difference. Way to add substance...

This has been my half-time progress report on Twilight. As you can see, my opinions have changed only a little since the first "Review", or what I like to call "First Impression" of the book. If anything, let's hope that the last half of Twilight picks up a bit better and I have a reason to WANT to continue reading the rest of this series.