Fearless Pilot (TV show)

So I did a review on the book series Fearless by Francine Pascal (here's the link to the review) awhile ago. Well, I didn't mention that CW (or WB or whatever they are calling themselves now) tried to make a tv show about it! This was about 5 or more years ago when I was still in high school and apparently they released the first pilot show!

This episode is based on the series of Fearless FBI where Gaia is in the FBI and out of high school. I was a little disappointed with the person they chose for Gaia (Rachel Leigh Cook) not because I don't like her (I actually love her as an actress) but because she isn't the right description for Gaia's character which is long blonde hair, blue eyes, and doesn't care about her appearance. However, I still would have watched this show religiously if it would have kept airing.

Sadly, it didn't get any farther than that show on air. I hunted, and I mean HUNTED, to find this show online and while the quality it not the best, I did find the episode :) It's in 5 parts and I'm including the link's below (1st link is the first part, and so on.)

Part 1 out of 5:

Part 2 out of 5:

Part 3 out of 5

Part 4 out of 5:

Part 5 out of 5:

Hope you enjoyed it and maybe it will make you want to read the 40+ books in the series :D Or, maybe not!

What Happened to Goodbye

I love Sarah Dessen. I got into a period where I found all of her books and read them all, picking my favorite one out of the bunch. While I really liked What Happened to Goodbye, it wasn't my all time favorite of hers.

Mclean has moved to 4 different places in the last 2 years. Her dad is a representative of EAT INC. and goes to restaurants that aren't doing so well, changed the appearance, food, staff, etc. to make it better, and then moves on to the next location. Each time Mclean is enrolled into a new school, she decides to change herself. One time she was a preppy cheerleader, another she was involved in every club or association, etc.

When Mclean moves to her last place before she graduates high school, she was making a new identity when somehow she was being called Mclean by her classmates and teachers. Usually she fixes that mistake and says, call me ______ (like Eliza or Beth). Now she's starting to try and find her real identity instead of the people she's made up in the past 2 years.

While all of this is happening, Mclean is also trying to get past the hatred she feels for her mother because 3 years ago her mom cheated on her dad, got a divorce, and is now a rich wife with twins to boot. Her mom wants everything to go back to normal with Mclean, but Mclean doesn't want her old life because her parents aren't together anymore and everything is different.

This was a great story. I love Sarah Dessen's writing and it really entrapt me when I was reading. I would have done the same thing as Mclean with what she did with her mom, but I think it would be very interesting to try and be a part of different cliques every school. I can't imagine being in one clique, let only 4!

If you've ever read any of Sarah Dessen's books, this is a must read. If you've never read her books, you MUST!!! They are great, realistic reads and will make you laugh at times.

Wild Ride

Now doesn't this cover capture your
attention??

When reading the back of this book, I didn't think that I would be able to fully understand the story because it clearly stated that it was a sequel to another book. However, every time I went to the library this book spine and cover just kept grabbing my attention and I always picked it up, knowing that I've already read the blurb, so I gave in and checked it out.

It actually wasn't that bad of a book. It's very short and easy to read, and reading about a girl in love with motorcycles was a different twist for me. It definitely isn't my favorite book, but it was a nice little read and following January's experiences with the new boarder at her house, Willow (another motorcyclist), and her feelings about the nerdy computer boy, Liam, at school was definitely entertaining for most of the story.

Jacqueline Guest did a really great job with this book in showing January's thoughts, and if I can find time, and more of Jacqueline's books, I might try and read a few more of her novels that she's written.

Steel

Jill competes in the sport of fencing, and she misses going to the next level of competition by half a second when her opponent hits her first. A few months after that disappointment, Jill goes on vacation with her parents and 2 younger siblings, where she's supposed to relax and enjoy the time off from practice and working out to be better in fencing.

On the beach at their vacation site, Jill finds a tip of a rapier sword, all rusted and unused. She then goes on a tour boat for one of the features during her vacation and falls off of the boat, with the rapier tip in her pocket! When she is fished out of the water, she's surrounded by real life pirates, hundreds of years in the past!

Jill is trying to survive day by day with the pirates, following Captain Cooper's order, who thankfully is a female pirate. While scrubbing the deck and getting a horrible sunburn, and dry skin on her hands, Jill tries to find ways to go back home to her family and her time, many years in the future.

Throughout the entire time she's on the ship with her new "crew", Jill learns to fight with a rapier instead of the padded swords she used in her fencing competition, and she learns to take care of herself more and more among the unpredictable pirates that surround her.

I liked this book. I thought it was going to be different, but it turned out to be an alright book. I really liked reading and understanding more about how fencing works since I've never seen or done fencing before. This book had a little bit of a slow start, but I liked the ending and the action that took place.

Samurai Girl

A series that was written years ago called Samurai Girl by Carrie Asai, was one of my favorites. It's about a girl named Heaven who was the only survivor from a plane crash when she was only 6 months old. Now, years later, she is being hunted by men who want to marry her for her fortune now that she is of age to be married.

Throughout these 6 novels, we follow Heaven on her journey to learning how to protect herself not only from her want to be suitors but also from people who want her dead because of the image that she presents to her heritage. She learns how to be a Samurai warrior and how to use the elements that are in the title of the books to help protect herself.

I really loved these books and I'm thinking about going back and rereading them, once I figure out where I put them a long time ago!

The Opposite of Invisible

Alice is a typical 15 year old girl. She's not too popular at school, has a best friend named Jewel who is very artistic and his photos are liked by many at her school, and she tries to find her place throughout the many different cliques at school. So when popular, football boy Simon starts to pay attention to Alice, she's both flattered and stunned, thinking that no one ever saw her except Jewel (and they've been friends since they were 3).

At the same time Alice and Simon started to talk to one another, Jewel kissed Alice, showing her that he wants to be more than friends. Alice has to decide if she wants her old friend as more than a friend or if she wants the popularity that comes with being with Simon.

Along with that mess, Alice goes to a glassmaking class and is surprised to see a popular cheerleader from her school there, giving her an incentive to talk to another person she thought was out of her reach in the social ladder. Throughout this novel, Alice learns that just because some are labeled in certain cliques, doesn't always mean that the clique has to define the person.

This was a nice little read, only 151 pages and it showed the inner struggles Alice went through with all of her decisions. Many high school students will like this story because it will probably reflect some part of their lives in high school and they questions they come up with based on their friends, boyfriends, and enemies.

Tiger's Quest

The second book in Colleen Houck's series was amazing! Kelsey is yet again going off to get another item to save Ren and Kishan from their curse of being a tiger, but this time she's going with Kishan because Ren was stolen by Lokesh. Lokesh is the evil king from 350 years ago that put the curse on Kishan, and now he wants Kelsey because of the amulet and the power that she is receiving from the Indian Goddess.

From my review of Tiger's Curse, you could tell that I was team Ren. I didn't know any better though. Houck has put me in a situation: now that I know how Kishan is and his personality a little bit better, I'm at a loss. Both boys are amazingly handsome, determined, and put Kelsey before anything in their lives.

Also, I have to say that this series gets better and better. At first I was irritated with Kelsey's character, thinking she thought too much and over analyzed everything before she took one step. She has developed into a stronger character and I felt that she has grown more. I can't wait for the next book to come out and see what happens in November 2011 (I'm not going into too much detail because I'll certainly give spoilers from the 1st and 2nd book)

Two upcoming series

I got the first book of 2 series that I bought for very cheap at Goodwill and Borders, since they are going out of business soon.

The first one is The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han and The Luxe by Anna Godbersen. Once I get to the library to order the rest of the books in the series (3 total for Jenny Han's books and 4 total for Anna Godberson's books) I'll probably zip right through them and not have to wait for a new one to come out, since the series are already completed :-D

To Be Read Very Soon!

I'm right in the middle of Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck but I got great books from the library in the past 2 days that I'm very excited to start reading! Here's the list of the upcoming reads/reviews I'll have throughout the next few days.

Steel by Carrie Vaughn. This is the one that I've been waiting to read! I'm so excited to see how the main female character gets sucked back into time on a pirate ship!

The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher. I can't wait to read this, it's been on my "to read" list on Goodreads for awhile so now that I have it, it looks like it will be a fast read for how small it is.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I'm not sure if I've read this before, but it's a nice, easy read and something a little bit different than I've been reading lately so it will be a nice change of pace.

Wild Ride by Jacqueline Guest. The cover really got my attention on this book and even though it's a sequel to another book I hope that I enjoy the story line.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I've been wanting to read this book for awhile, especially because everyone in my YA class brings it up, so now I'm officially going to read it!

So there ya have it! What are you wanting to read this weekend, upcoming week?

Tiger's Curse

I've had this book for over 6 months now, just putting it off because I didn't think that I would like it. How wrong was I!!! This is a "retelling" of Beauty and the Beast but with a twist: the beast is an Indian prince, 350 years old, who was turned into a beautiful white and black striped tiger with amazing blue eyes and the Beauty thinks that she is no beauty but just a normal, American 18 year old.

Peak your interest yet?

Kelsey started to work at a circus near her hometown in Oregon, just for a summer job so she can save some money before she goes to a local community college. She didn't include a beautiful tiger that she was always drawn to as part of the circus routine. Whenever Kelsey had any free time (she was staying on the circus grounds for 2 weeks while she worked there) she would always go near the tiger's cage and read from her books, sketch, or just talk to the tiger in a normal discussion.

Kelsey felt sorry for the tiger one day and wished that he was free to roam the wild, like most tigers do. When she said that, it freed Ren, the tiger, somewhat from his curse. He's been forced to be a tiger for 300 years but when Kelsey said that he was able to turn into a man again for 24 minutes every day.

After that, Kelsey went to India to try and help Ren out of the curse he's been forced to live with for so many years and she is also struggling to keep her feelings in that she's starting to feel for Ren. Kelsey definitely wasn't expecting to find magic and mystery during the summer of her 18th birthday, and neither was she expecting to fall in love.

I liked this book. It definitely caught me by surprise - I really didn't think I was going to be too interested in the story and now I just went and bought the second book Tiger's Quest today so I wouldn't have to wait too long to continue Kelsey and Ren's story.

The one thing that annoyed me to no end was Kelsey's reaction to falling for Ren. She lost her parents when she was 15, so she's built a wall around her heart and is unsure if she should let Ren in. But it's sooo obvious that Ren has fallen head over heels in love with her! He's amazingly attractive, royal, and sensitive - she's missing out! If she doesn't want him, I'll certain trade her places :-)

I'm excited to read the next story, even though I'll have to wait for the next 2 books in the series to come out to find out if Kelsey can break the curse that Ren and his brother were trapped in all those years ago.

Girl in the Arena

I really love this cover and the image
the girl give. Plus her outfit is amazing!

When the Vietnam War was going on, one man decided that he wanted to start a Neo-Gladiator competition because his son was killed during the war - a war that his son didn't want to be a part of. For 70 some years, the Neo-Gladiator competition has been thriving, getting more intense and more harsher every year until now there can be a competition to the death - not something that was looked at lightly when it was first created.

It is now 2009, and Lyn is a daughter of 7 gladiators. Her mother has married 7 gladiator competitors and every husband has died before their contract was done. Allison, her mother, is known as a Gladiator Wife and in the rules for Gladiators, a Gladiator Wife can only marry 7 Gladiators. Then she will be a widow for life. This has never happened - until Lyn's 7th father dies in the ring against Uber, a young, new Gladiator.

When her father, Tommy, died, he was wearing Lyn's bracelet that her 1st father gave to her, her courtship bracelet. The rule about her bracelet is that is anyone else becomes in possession of it, a male, he will have the right to marry the owner of the bracelet. Uber grabbed it when he killed Tommy, so now she is supposed to marry Uber, her father's murderer.

Lyn doesn't know what to do. She doesn't want to marry Uber. She doesn't want to be a Gladiator's Wife - because her mother has been it all of her life, Lyn sees the outcome of that life and swore she would stay away from that.

So now she has a decision: She either marries Uber or she fights against him in the arena - something no woman has been able to do and survive as of yet.

This was a great novel - it's definitely something I've never read before. Don't think that this is the same as Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - it's not. Lyn lives in a dystopian world of today's time. All of the actions from the Vietnam War to 9/11 have occurred and have influenced the Gladiator competitions based on the events that have happen to society. There is still New York City, everything environmentally is the same as we know it today. They just happen to have Gladiators and competitions to the death, and other, more advanced technology that can replicate a person.

I've been wanting to read this for awhile, and even though it's not my favorite book, it was very well written and the author definitely created a different perspective of the world that we know today with just a few twist and turns to make it a different society than what we know of.

Radiant Darkness

Greek mythology was always fascinating to me when I was younger. I didn't get into too many of the original stories because, honestly, I found them somewhat boring (this was when I was 10, by the way, and reading on my own). I wish I would have gotten more into the stories, though, because when I was reading this book, Radiant Darkness, I found that I didn't quite know the story of Persephone.

This is basically a retelling of how Persephone went to stay in Hell with Hades, her husband. Unlike the original story (from what the author talked about at the end of the novel), this Persephone went willing with Hades because she wanted to live her own life and she loved Hades for the man that he was, not the evil God that everyone knew him to be.

The inner struggles that Persephone went through when she left her mother, Demeter, and her feelings for Hades were very real and it showed how much Persephone cared for everyone around her. She wanted the right thing to happen in both Hell and Earth, and she certainly was not afraid to tell Hades what she thought of his ruling in Hell!!

One thing that did sort of bother me at the beginning of the story was that Demeter always called Persephone a child. With this being said, I started to see Persephone as a child and when Hades started to see Persephone, it was a little weird because Hades has a beard - which shows that he is certainly not a child!

Otherwise, this story was amazing! I want to go and read all of the original Greek mythology stories because it seems to be the new trend in today's society to rewrite/revamp Greek mythology stories and I want to know how right/similar they are to the original story.

Oh, and one more great thing about this novel? It's a stand alone!! I don't have to wait impatiently for the next novel to come out!

Between Here and Forever

I've read a couple of Elizabeth Scott's books in the past and just haven't really gotten into them. I decided to try this book, Between Here and Forever, because the storyline seemed really good and I always hear great things about Scott's books. While this book wasn't my favorite, I did enjoy it more than the other books that I've read of hers.

Abby is a younger sister, to Tess, the perfect daughter. Abby is 3 years younger and always seems to be in the shadow of Tess. Tess had perfect grades, perfect looks, perfect hair, and always got the guys to follow her around like little puppies. Abby has accepted the fact that she will never be as good as Tess is as life and that she will be in her shadow until she can go away to college where no one knows Tess.

Then, Tess gets into a car accident and goes into a coma. She's been in a coma for 6 weeks with no improvement. Abby sees this gorgeous guy in the hospital and realizes that if she can get the guy to talk to Tess, Tess will wake up and fall in love with this amazing, great looking guy.

The more time that Abby gets to know Eli (the gorgeous hunk), the more Abby starts to like him herself. And then, Abby starts to really look at who the person Tess was before her accident and see that Tess might not have been the perfect person that Abby really remembers when growing up.

This story is very relateable. I'm an older sister of 2, so I can't relate to Abby that much but I can definitely see where readers who are younger sisters have to follow in the footsteps of their older sister and feel as if they are invisible or not good enough. I think many young teen girls will fully appreciate this story because of what Abby goes through her whole life, and the experience she gets when she finds out about Tess's past.

Blood and Chocolate

Years ago I read  Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. It's about a girl named Vivian who is a werewolf. She doesn't want to be a wereworlf and every month she fights off the urge to change into a wolf. The leader of her pack wants Vivian to become the next "Queen" of the pack but Vivian wants to get away from everyone that she grew up with. Then she meets Aiden, a human, or as she calls them, a meat-boy.

Aiden gives Vivian a new outlook of life and tells her that she has decisions to choose - she doesn't have to be told what to do. Vivian then has to decide if she wants to be the head werewolf of her pack and follow the leader's rules, or if she wants to pick her own destiny and maybe have a life with Aiden.

Movie cover.

This book is great! I loved it when I read it a long time ago and now there is a movie that was made from the book, directed by Katja von Garnier in 2007. It's not exactly like the book but it is a really good story and I can watch it again and again.

I'm not sure how popular this movie or book is, but I would definitely recommend it. It's not like most of the werewolf books out today because Vivian doesn't really want to be part of her pack, so she's trying to find ways out of her situation. It's a great story and the process where Vivian finds herself is very well written.

Pandemonium news

I did a review on Lauren Oliver's book, Delirium, last month and I just found out that she released her cover for the sequel, Pandemonium. Also, I'm very excited for this book because it show's Lena as more of a warrior since she's living on the outside of the city with the rules that she grew up with, so reading about this new Lena is going to be great! I love warrior, survival characters far more than subtle, following the rules.

Supernaturally excerpt

I did a review on Paranormalcy by Kiersten White a little while ago and I just found that the author put the first 4 chapters for free online! Go to this website and enjoy reading! This also comes out July 26th (very soon!) so I'm excited to see what Evie has in store for her.

Another exciting news for this author is that she has named her final book in this series already: Endlessly.

Harry Potter 7.2

Eeek! I'm going to be a geek for a minute and say, I'm so excited that the last Harry Potter movie is finally out!!! Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'm going to clarify. I haven't seen the movie yet. That will be for next Sunday, hopefully. I've heard good reviews about it, so I'm hoping I won't be disappointed. I didn't read the book in preparation because I usually don't like the movie then, so I'm going in open minded and read to watch the epic, final battle between Harry and Voldemort.

In a way, I'm almost happy that the Harry Potter events are overwith. Don't get me wrong, I love Harry Potter and will forever reread the books and rewatch the movies. But 11-12 years of Harry Potter, while it's been good, has gotten to be a little much. Now I can just enjoy rereading the books and enjoy the storyline without having to wait impatiently for the next installment of the Harry Potterness.

Now I can find some other event to take up the next 10 years of my life ;-)

Passion

Lauren Kate does a great job with this new installment of her series Fallen. Luce and Daniel have fallen in love with each other for over 5,000 years. Everytime they meet, though, Luce dies a tragic death by fire whenever her and Daniel kiss, creating the next incarceration of Luce's soul into her next life. We found out in the first novel, Fallen that the Luce in our time somehow didn't die when she kissed Daniel.

In this new novel, Luce wants to know why. Why are Daniel and Luce cursed to never loving one another? Why is this time different than the last 5,000 years? And why does Daniel keep continuing this horrible cycle where he has to watch one Luce die after another with no hope of living his life with her?

This was written so well! I was hooked from the very beginning when Luce jumps into an Announcer, a shadow that will take the person wherever they want to go. This whole book, Luce is jumping from one time period to another trying to answer all of her questions. She goes 4,000 years back in time, from places like Ancient Egypt, China, Mesoamerica, Prussia, and many more! (I would love to see this as a movie and how they incorporate the scenes at these amazing locations!)

Through these encounters with her past selves, her past souls, Luce finally sees what really happens between her and Daniel. She fully appreciates Daniel's choices, and she realizes what she wants for her and the Daniel during her time (2009). Now she wants to go back and tell Daniel everything she experienced, but she may have overstepped too much during her journey...

A great read, I highly recommend it. However, YOU MUST READ THE FIRST TWO NOVELS BEFOREHAND!!! If you don't, you'll never figure out what is going on when they think about the times Luce and Daniel have during the present time. There is one more novel, the conclusion, to this series, Rapture, that will be released Spring 2012!!! Read the first 3 books during this winter and spring season to be ready for the epic conclusion to this series! 

Happy Anniversary

To my mom and dad today! 26 years together - that's just crazy! Now I have to go and give my dad's present to my mom at work. Can you say surprise? :)

New Releases in 2011

I'm currently in the middle of a book right now, so I'm going to blog about the upcoming books that are going to be released in 2011. Most of these are the new editions to my series that I have, so I won't be talking about them in too much detail to avoid spoiling the previous books.

August 16: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles. This is the last book in Elkeles series, Perfect Chemistry about the youngest brother getting into some trouble when he meets a bad girl.

September 20: If I Die by Rachel Vincent. Eek! Another new book in the Soul Screamers series! I can't wait to see the character development in this book and see how Kaylee acts around the ... men ... in her life (again, I don't want to give any spoilers!). 

September 20: Entralled by Melissa Marr, Rachel Vincent, Carrie Ryan, Kelley Armstrong, and more. I'm really excited to read this because it has a lot of the authors that I already read included but I also want to get some new authors (not that I need to read any more books...) and anthologies are a perfect place to find similar genres that I like.

October 4: Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick. I think this is the one book out of all the new releases that I'm looking forward to the most. I fell for Patch right from the beginning and I can't wait to see how it ends. Becca, don't fail me! I need a happy, swooning ending please!

October 25: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa. This is going to be different than the rest of the Iron Fey novels because it's told through Ash's point of view! Him and Puck are traveling to find something and we get a chance to see what Ash thinks about things - very interested to see how this is going to play out!

December 6: The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. I'm going to have to reread The Clockwork Angel again, I think, before I start this again. Reading both series at the same time does something to my brain. I'm excited to see how everything starts to play out though with these characters!




So there's my list! I'm sure that I have tons more, but this was all I could think of right now, and they are all part of a series that I'm dying to read some more about! And I'll get to buy 2 of them on the same day in September! :)

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Sam is a college drop out working at a fast food joint, living day by day. The worst things he has to decide is whether he wants to work on the fryer or at the cash register (which, by the way, the fryer is his choice but usually gets stuck at the register putting on a happy face for rude customers).

During one of his shifts, though, a man comes in and changes Sam's life completely. It turns out that Sam is a necromancer, one who can see spirits, control the dead and spirits, and pretty much do anything with the dead. The man in question that changed Sam's life is none other than Douglas Montgomery, the leader of the Council and the most powerful necromancer in Seattle.

After that shocking news, Sam confronts his mother, who turns out to be a witch, gets trapped in a cage with a were-hybrid (werewolf and fey), is presented with his coworkers decapitated head as a "message", and found out he has 2 half sisters who are also necromancers. Now Sam wishes he was back at the cash register...

This was definitely a different novel than most YA books. This is for an older YA, since all of the characters are around 19 years old and they aren't going to school. Also, the topic is something I've never read about. I wasn't even sure what a necromancer was at the beginning; thankfully it was explained throughout the novel.

Overall, I think Lish McBride did an amazing job creating a new, fresh genre for YA and adults at the same time. So far I don't think there is a sequel to this book, but it ended in a way that it wouldn't need another book, so I hope it will be a stand alone.

Return to Paradise

I just flew through this sequel to Leaving Paradise and I couldn't put it down! I'm not going to say too much about it because it will spoil the first book, but I will say that watching Caleb and Maggie get through the barriers that they found themselves in was amazing.

I really love Simone Elkeles books (Ruined series and Perfect Chemistry series) because she writes about topics that can be related to life: gangs, jail, drunk driving, war. Most of these topics are not brought up in young adult literature, so reading about the situations that arise with these topics and how the teens involved get past the problems is really eye opening.

Another thing I love about Simone's books is that they are all set in Illinois :) Since I'm from IL, it makes it even more amazing and I recognize a lot of the landmarks that are mentioned throughout the novels.

But, seriously? Read her books. The topics are real life and show a teenager what could happen if they joined a gang, if they drove drunk, if they start dating a person who decides to enlist in the military. These topics are provided in a love story, which makes it a fun read, but teens are learning about hard situations at the same time.

Leaving Paradise

One year ago, Maggie and Caleb - neighbors who grew up together and always hungout with one another - found their lives upside down. Maggie was a victim in a hit and run incident. Caleb was the driver. For one year, Caleb went to juvenile detention and Maggie went to physical therapy and surgeries to try and get her leg better.

Maggie hated Caleb for what he had done. She loved him before the accident, but now she was ready to leave Paradise, her hometown, to escape being around him. Caleb was able to get out of the Illinois Department of Corrections-Juvenile (DOC) 6 months early, ruining Maggie's plan to escape to Spain so she could avoid him.

Now, the two are stuck together reliving that awful day a year ago, but also finding themselves in the same place trying to survive until the end of the school year. However, they are starting to connect with one another, knowing how much the other is an outcast at school and in society. The person that they hate the most might actually be the only person that can remotely understand what the other is going through during this time.

This was an amazing book and I'm very glad that I don't have to wait for the sequel and conclusion of this series Return to Paradise because the suspense would have been too much! I'm going to go start that book right now!

Paranormalcy

I just read Paranormalcy by Kiersten White for my YA workshop I'm taking and I really liked it! The main character, Evie, is a 16 year old who has a full time job: working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. This is where the "agents" who work there hunt down paranormal creatures (vampires, werewolves, mermaids, faeries, trolls, tree spirits - you name it!) and bring them back to the IPCA to "tame" them and make them less harmful.

Evie is there because she has a unique talent: she can see past any paranormal glamour. So instead of seeing the gorgeous vampire, she sees a dead corpse with thinning hair. Not the best view, but it helps her find the paranormals very quickly!

Things start to go wrong, though, when paranormals are found dead all over the world with no signs of struggle or any reason for why they are dead. Evie already has her hands full with a shapeshifter, her ex-boyfriend Reth who's a faerie and wants to take her soul, and finding out that she might not be what she thought she was.... Adding another "weird" event into Evie's already weird life might be more than she can handle. 

Insatiable

Love this dress!

Insatiable is a new series that Meg Cabot is currently writing. If you've ever read Meg Cabot, don't expect anything like her old work in this novel! This isn't about teens - it's about an adult, Meena Harper. I can see the similarities in her writing in this book, but the topic is about vampires - something Meg Cabot hasn't done yet. 

So, Meena hates vampires. But she's a writer for a famous television station and the popular tv show she writes wants to incorporate vampires into the show now. Other shows are already doing that and they are getting higher views than Meena's job. 

What Meena didn't see coming (and she can see more than the average human) is that vampires would start to follow her around and she would get caught up in the middle of a vampire war! See, Meena has visions and can see how someone would die. She always tries to warn everyone, but strangers who she accidentally touches won't believe her and Meena feels like in some way it's her fault that she didn't try hard enough to keep them alive. 

When Meena touched Lucien for the first time, she didn't see his death. Later, she realizes he's a vampire, so he's already dead! Then Alaric, a vampire hunter, comes along causing Meena to wonder if Lucien is as evil as Alaric says or not really. 

Like I said, if you've ever read Meg Cabot's other series (1-800-Where-Are-You, Mediator Series, etc.) this is definitely not like that (topic and age wise). This book is very humorous, and sometimes makes fun of vampires - a new for today's books devoted to vampires. Also, the second book came out this month (Overbite)!

The China Garden

I've had The China Garden for a really long time and I still remember the storyline of this amazing book. Clare moved from London to a town called Ravensmere, where everyone knows everyone elses business. She didn't want to move there and she didn't like the small town atmosphere. Clare got extremely bored very quickly and decided to look up the history of the town since she got a strange vibe from it.

When Clare started to dig into the history, though, other townspeople started to get upset and tell her that she had no right to look at that information. Her mother seemed jumpy, and she wanted Clare to be "invisible" - kind of hard to do, though, if you are the only new person that has come into town for 5+ years.

Clare starts to get attention from local boy, Mark - as if he's attracted to her but hates that he is. With all of the mysterious events happening around Clare, she digs just deep enough into her past that there is no way to go back, causing Clare and Mark to get caught up in the history that just might be their future...

This was published in 1999 so I'm not sure if it's still in print or if it's reprinted again. I would definitely recommend it though because it is very well written and the mystery will make you not want to put the book down until the answer is revealed. Whenever I reread it I still want to finish it in one sitting, and I know the ending!

Entwined

Love this cover! So beautiful!

When I was a little girl, my favorite story was about the 12 Dancing Princesses. I'm not sure exactly why - I was a tomboy who hated dressed and hated dancing (still hate both to this day) so this story was the complete opposite of me. Maybe that's why I liked it so much? It was a foreign world that I would never willingly go to, but it was nice to read it and imagine myself being one of 12 princesses.

Entwined is a great remake of the 12 Dancing Princesses. It goes into more details than the original, short story and it has more of a storyline for the princesses than any other rendition I've read before. While this story is based on the eldest daughter, Azalea's, viewpoint, the reader gets a little piece of every princess and their uniqueness from their sisters.

One thing that is significantly different from this young adult novel than the original, shorter version is that we don't get to see/read first hand the journey that Mr. Branford (the hero) goes through and the magic he discovers. I only know about that because I can still remember reading the story and seeing the pictures of the hero going to save the princesses.

Heather Dixon did a great job retelling this famous fairy tale. Many young adults today won't know the original story, so rewriting it now is a great way to bring this story back to life for more teenagers to read!

From the original story that I grew up reading. My sister and I would
fight over who was the prettiest princess!

Academy 7

When reading the back of this book, I was not prepared for the setting of the story. It just seemed like two students were going to a prestigious boarding school and were rivals because they wanted to be the best in all of their classes and found that they were competing for that first place slot.

That is definitely not the case! The setting for this story is somewhere in the far future, where civilians live on different planets and they fly from one planet to the other. There is one diplomatic system and then each planet has their own ruler to carry out the rules.

Aerin was rescued when her ship was stuck in space: she wasn't able to reach another planet or another fueling station. After she was rescued, she took a series of tests on the ship, but wasn't told why. A few weeks later, she got a letter in the mail saying she was accepted at Academy 7, a very prestigious school where she would have to prove that she should stay there.

Dane is another student who was accepted to the school, and he is a celebrity because his father is the General of the government and also an alumni of Academy 7. When Aerin starts beating Dane in all of the tests - mental and physical - he starts to wonder why she doesn't recognize him and delves deeper into the mystery of her past, and, as he finds out later, his past as well.

Beauty Queens

This novel was very fun and upbeat, despite the circumstances the teenagers were in. Being stranded on an unknown island is bad enough - but being stranded when one is going to a beauty pageant? That was very unexpected for the 13 girls that survived the plane crash.

I love this book, and not for the reasons that one might think. Libba Bray has transformed beauty pageant ladies from their usual stereotypical features into girls who know how to hunt, fight, build huts, and survive through the worst of times. The cover of the book definitely represents the book: those girls were able to find a weapon out of all of their pageant belongings that they found after the plane wreak.

The best part in the book that I enjoyed the most was the introduction to Miss Illinois (I have to represent my state!) Now, while it may be completely unrealistic of how Sosie defeated the snake, you have to admit that Miss Illinois is pretty badass! She didn't give up without a fight, that's for sure!

This book is definitely different than Libba Bray's other novels and I really like that about this author. She writes more than one genre and is great at all of those genres! I think for this particular book, it is a new, refreshing topic that our young adult viewers have not see in writing before - sure there's the television series Lost but there definitely wasn't any beauty pageant contestants on that show!

And to conclude, here is my favorite quote from the book, page 379: "Really, being a librarian is a much more dangerous job than you realize."

City of Fallen Angels

Sigh. I really, really wanted to like this book. I was iffy at first because I liked the way City of Glass ended and didn't want to ruin the amazing ending that we were left with. And I have to say, this book was amazing because of the plot line, the further character development I learned about all of the characters, and being able to see Simon in action with his new... tattoo shall we say (in case any of you readers don't know what happened to Simon in City of Glass).

However, I have to admit, I really dislike the ending. I can't complain too much - there are 2 more books coming out in the series. This is not the overall ending to a great story. I just wish that I had the next 2 books right now so I wouldn't be left with this ending!

Also, I was shocked because I was under the impression that this was about Simon. Granted, I learned a lot more about Simon's character than I did from the previous book, but it was definitely evened out between the characters. (Not that I'm complaining, I love reading about Jace and Clary!)

Overall, it was worth the wait to finally read this book! (Because, let's face it, all of Cassandra Clare's fans have probably read this book 2 or 3 times since it's been released). Even though I complained about some aspects of the book, it doesn't change the fact that Cassandra Clare once again wrote a beautifully installment to her series and it can only get better, right?

By the way, I loved finding clues throughout the novel that will probably become more detailed in the new Infernal Devices novels when they are released!

Not much to say

This is how sleepy I am, haha

I don't have much to say today nor any reviews to post since I've been at work all day (very long, hot day..). However, I am very proud that I got through an entire month's worth of posts, from school assignments to anything that I wanted to talk about that particular day! :D I went from not posting, or even creating my own blog, to blogging for 30+ days straight! I'll be back tomorrow with a review on City of Fallen Angels because I'm almost finished with it!