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)